


Baby you're like a caramel machiatto.

by lalalilapatata



Series: Friends Of Friends [1]
Category: EXO (Band), GOT7, K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternative Universe - Bangtan Showcase, Crack, Drinking, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Extreme Use of SNS, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Ignore the ships you don't like, Kinks, Light Angst, M/M, Message, Multi, Parties, Slow Burn, Smut, Social Media, Swearing, There's infinite background shipping, Twitter, change of POV, so much swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2018-11-22 12:23:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11380113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalilapatata/pseuds/lalalilapatata
Summary: Jeongguk is minding his own business, working his shifts and being the responsible young college man he has to be.That is, until his friends decide to disrupt the balance in his life, and he has to collaborate in his hyung's dream project -for a lifetime suply of pizza as his sole price-, adding dance practice and other performative activities to his very limited spare time.What he definitelly doesn't have time for, though, is to develop a crush on his frienemy.Frienemy: what we will use to refer to an acquaintance with whom we have a love-hate relationship.~Jeongguk: Who said anything about love?!





	1. Tuesday: Distress (JK)

**Author's Note:**

> This started of a coffeé shop AU Taekook prompt but then it grew in my head and I couldn't neglect this child's existance.
> 
> I will update as often as I can, and have much of the story already written -I started writing this mid 2016 so imagine-, but as a college student myself I can't promise much! <3

Jeongguk kept grumbling under his breath.

“That’ll be 3.95, thank you” he smiled –or at least he tried, he wasn’t even sure anymore- at the girl opposite the counter, as he reached out for the fiver note she was holding out for him. He handed back the change and bowed his head a little as the girl moved towards the end of the bar to wait for her earl grey tea, saying her thanks.

He turned around, facing the wall and sighed loudly. He heard a forced cough somewhere by his right, and he eyed towards the sound, finding a tall, slim figure watching him closely with reprimanding eyes. He straightened up and tried to look cheerful –honestly, he was _trying_ -. The observant rolled his eyes and motioned him to come closer. Jeongguk, giving a last look towards the door ‘ _please someone walk in now and saVE ME_ ’ pushed himself to walk towards the other boy, taking his time to reach him ‘ _Honestly though. Someone. Anyone. Set this place on fire? Set me on fire? JUS-_.

“Jeongguk-ah…” he heard the other cut his train of thought “dude, honestly, you’re depressing to watch. I know you think you can just… I don’t know, _drop_ when there’s no one queueing, but you’re making this whole place sulk with you.”

“Maybe if I was on my _actual_ schedule and not covering up some twat’s last minute illness I wouldn’t be like this” he spat with disdain.

“Jeongguk-ah I know you’re more muscle than brain but you can’t possibly mean that. You know people can’t control illnesses. Plus you’re forgetting you’re covering up for a _friend_.”

“Well next time Jimin thinks it’s a good idea to stuff the shit out of his face with expired ice cream, you cover up for him, Seokjin-hyung”.  Jeongguk was overreacting but he had _a fuckload_ of work to do and he was not in the mood to put up with anyone’s shit. No matter how literal that shit might be.

The elder looked down at him with exhaustion in his eyes. Jeongguk could already hear the scolding the older was preparing because, quote “ _your swearword ratio is 1:3, and that’s simply because you need pronouns whom to direct your curses to_ ” but the sound of the door opening saved him from that. He knew he wasn’t going to get out of this one so easily, but the longer he could put it off, the better; plus, he had already turned on his heels and was already making a plan on how to avoid the elder for the hour and a half left he had on this extra shift, but he felt his train of thought get wrecked by what he saw walking into the coffee shop.

Who a second ago the boy thought had been sent to him by the Gods to save him, was now more looking like _the Gods_ himself. He whistled lowly as he approached the boy, looking at him attentively. He was about his height, but slimmer, his body perfectly proportioned and his skin slightly gold-like. He had been walking to the counter looking down at his phone, not really paying attention to his surroundings but somehow managing not to crash with any of the furniture around the place. ‘ _A regular?’_ Jeongguk thought, watching the boy approach the counter and staring into the crown of his shiny, brown straight hair.

When he got to the ordering space, he looked up, and his hair moved in a “one-all” motion and waved around his face, settling perfectly around his features. Well, if Jeongguk had thought was a God ten seconds ago, he could now pin-point exactly which one. Apollo, the roman God of the Sun, because as the other boy looked up and smiled at him, grin-wide and showing all his teeth, he felt like it was mid-december and he had stepped into the sunlight.

“Heya, what can I ge...” he felt the sentence die in his tongue as fast as the smile of the other left his lips. ‘ _The fuck. Rude’_. He felt insulted, witnessing how the other had lost his smile at the simple sight of him. He coughed, and tried again, this time with a completely monotonous tone of _well then fuck you too_ as he asked drily. “So, your order?”

The other blinked twice before he replied, eying the boy with interest and disappointment. “You’re not Jimin” he finally spoke, the long-gone smile turning now into a pout.

Jeongguk stared back, not believing what was happening. Not only did he have to cover up for that _fucktard_ , but now he also had to bear the disappointing look as one of his probable fanboys –being in the dance team had acquired him quite a few followers, and some took the meaning of that title quite literally- had found him instead of his idol. He didn’t get it, Jimin and all his chuby-cheek and crescent-eyed smile only got bullying from the waiter, but somehow other people found those endearing. He was never going to admit that the way Jimin looked when he danced was a whole ‘nother story. He only admired that side of the boy because he looked up –or down, depending on the move- to his dancing skills and was actually grateful that the elder would help him with dancing whenever they had time.

But now, here he was, anger pooling inside of him for having to deal with this, denying to feel even the slightest of sympathies for the boy in front of him–no matter how much his pout was making him _aegyo_ inside- and he was taking a breath, ready to flick the other off and tell him to go cry over his spoiled crush somewhere else, when just as he was going to roll his eyes, he saw the other smile, as if rising from his pool of sadness.

“Ah, oh, sorry, yes. I’ll take a caffé latté please” he looked at the boy, waiting for his reply.

Jeongguk blinked. He felt lost at the sudden mood changes of the brunette, but decided to ignore the matter further. He’d punch Jimin later for this and that was about enough.

“Name?” Jeongguk asked before he realized. They normally only took the names of the orders in busy days, so they wouldn’t mix the drinks between the consumers, but this guy was literally the only one in the line.

“Uh” the other hesitated, obviously not used to having to give his name ‘ _definitely a regular’_ Jeongguk confirmed to himself “Taehyung” he said absentmindedly while he took his wallet out of his pocket.

“You want me to call you hyung already?” Jeongguk’s sass spoke for him before he realized. The other gave him a ‘ _like I haven’t heard that before_ ’ look, and sighed exasperatedly. The waiter realized he was gazing at the other, and looked away to write his name on the plastic container, with his order next to it. He cleared his throat “That’ll be 2,95 please” he said as he turned around and went to the coffee machine, leaving the guy waiting for him to take his money. He felt a bit like a dick, making the other wait for no reason at all, as he prepared the coffee himself, leaving the boy to stand there and grow impatient.

However, as he turned around a few minutes later –a few minutes too long, to be honest- the other was still there, giggling as he stared into the screen of his phone, money resting on the counter in front of him.

Jeongguk approached and handed the drink, taking the money that rested on the surface between them ‘ _who has 2,95 exactly? Freak_ ’ he muttered, and he saw the other take the coffee happily, and sing a low “thank yoooou~” as he walked towards one of the tables at the back.

Jeongguk then proceeded to damn and curse Park Jimin constantly for the rest of the hour and fifteen minutes he had left. Of course it was his fault; if his _friend_ hadn’t been sick, he wouldn’t have to be here, he could be at home, reading, revising and working on the _ten thousand_ essays and _seven hundred_ text books he had to go through. Okay, they might have not BEEN that many, but they surely FELT like said amount. He felt Seokjin’s gaze on him every once in a while, when a customer came in, monitoring his behaviour; and as soon as he could, he fled the place, totally trying to not look at the boy who had gained his hatred so easily, and failing miserably, watching him laugh, now sat next in front of another guy, all of which Jeongguk was able to see being messy, pink hair.

\----------

Jeongguk was trying too hard not to lose focus in what he was typing. Funny thing is when you’re paying more attention to staying focused than to the task on which to stay focused, all you do is end up staring at it with great concentration. His phone buzzed, snapping him off his reverie, and he felt the muscles in his face relax, as if they had been contorted, brows furrowed, for a while. He shook his head and went back to typing, rereading his last sentences –which made close to _no_ sense- and resumed his task, choosing to ignore his phone because the clock was staring at him, he just _had_ to finish this essay, and he had already lost enough time today.

He was going through what might have been one of the only real conclusions in his essay, feeling the epiphany of the moment and the eagerness to type it all out before the idea left him, happy to be able to write some actual content within all the bullshit he’d been dropping on the last 5 pages, when his phone buzzed again. He took a deep breath, ready to ignore it once more, diligent in keeping working.

But then it buzzed again.

And then a fourth time.

“Can you fucking not? I’m _working_ ” he spat at the gadget, staring at it with annoyance as if it was deciding to vibrate out of his own will, just to piss him off. It buzzed once more, as if trying to reply that it was, indeed, not going to stop. Grumbling, he picked it up from the desk, where it had been laying surrounded by notes and testsheets. He unlocked it and saw that he had a few new messages.

Jeongguk sighed heavily and blocked his phone angrily. He should have known, that morning, when he said he’d cover up for Jimin at work; he should have seen it coming already, the day was going to be unbearable. He went back to work feeling angry for the umpteenth time since he left his bed that morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bless my waifu for betaing me and helping me always  
> ily!!


	2. Wednesday: Betrayal (JK)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I wanted to post this next week but I couldn't really wait.  
>  Enjoy!!

When the alarm went off the next morning, Jeongguk entered the state of denial. Maybe if he ignored the sound hard enough, it would stop, and that would mean it wouldn’t already be time to go to class and he wouldn’t have to face the day. He was working through it, face buried on the pillow, feeling that he was getting closer and closer to drowning the piercing sound somewhere in the back of his thoughts, getting muffled with the rest of the noise surrounding him, until a second sound appeared.

“Yo, Jeongguk-ah, time to wake the fuck up” shouted a raspy voice from the other side of the door.

Jeongguk growled under his breath, and rolled over, reaching for his phone and bringing silence to the room. He fought with the covers, stretched and yawned loudly. Feet on the ground, he got up, feeling his muscles wake, and tumbled to the window of his room, opening it up to let the breeze in. It was only may and the morning air was still chilly, so he regretted doing so instantly as a shiver crawled up his spine and he felt suddenly much more awake.

“Time for coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” said the same voice as before.

He approached the door and walked out to the owner of said voice. He was standing next to the counter on the kitchen, pouring two mugs of coffee, wearing some loose dark clothes, topped with bed-hair. The welcoming smell made the boy feel instantly better about being up. There were a few times when he didn’t hate life so much, and coffee was definitely one of those times.

“How can such a bitter brew make you feel so sweet inside” he singsang as he walked towards the other.

“I would have thought after working at a coffeeshop you’d end up growing tired as fuck of it, but here you are, a true coffee lover standing his grounds. You should totally sell that, by the way, it’d make a great slogan for any coffee related campaign” his flat-mate suggested, chuckling.

“You’re only ever interested in me if I’m profitable, Yoongi-hyung” Jeongguk replied, taking the cup and walking towards the coffee table to sit down and enjoy ( _or maybe drown in_?) the beverage. He stared at the mug, contemplating his caffeine-based life.

“I’m a practical guy” said the elder. “Did you finish your essay? You were up late last night” Yoongi asked from the kitchen.

“Uuuuuugh hyung, please. I’ve got enough with one fake mother thank you very much” Jeongguk muttered. He sat back on the sofa, wishing to become one with the soft surface. His life could do with feeling velvety, most of the time it felt like sand paper and he was starting to feel the scratches. ‘ _So It’s one of those mornings_ ’ he thought, analysing his deep and depressing life metaphors.

“Listen brat, I only care ‘cause you’re noisy. Like, I get it, you’re tired, but so am I, and I can’t sleep if I keep hearing you groan in frustration.” The words were followed by a slap to the head and Yoongi rounding the sofa to sit next to him. “So next time, work at humanly hours, or shut the fuck up.” Yoongi took a sip of his own coffee, and then laid his head back against the rest of the sofa, light smile on his face with utter joy caused by the drink.

“I would have worked at humanly hours if dumb-ass-Jimin didn’t need to be covered for and I had been able to work when I was going to” Jeongguk told the elder. He hadn’t seen him the day prior, so he didn’t tell him about the extra hours, meaning Yoongi probably thought he had spent the afternoon watching anime instead of working while he had been at the study. And c’mon. That was like, once. Maybe twice. Most of the time Yoongi didn’t even need to be at the study for it to happen so, technically… But this wasn’t the case and he had to fight for himself.

“I hope no-one has mercy on you if you wake up one day with indigestion. I, certainly, won’t” the elder replied with a light smirk. Jeongguk looked at him, question in his eyes. The elder felt the gaze on him, and answered, not looking at the younger from how his head was positioned against the backrest. “I bumped into Seokjin that morning and he was on the phone to your co-worker, so I kinda got the story. He asked me if you were free and I said I didn’t think you had class, so he grinned like an ass and called you to do the cover up. Oops. Sorry kiddo.” Yoongi had been telling the story at the same time he was getting off the couch, and his last words were punctuated with a wink and a malicious smile as he closed his bedroom door.

“TRAITOR” Jeongguk snapped at the elder. “What does one do when life betrays you?” he whined into his coffee cup, and looked at it languidly. “At least I’ve got you…” he said, as he approached the cup to his lips and proceeded to take a sip, failing greatly as he instead burned his upper lip and his tongue. He spat the coffee from his mouth back out, making it dribble down his chin and into his pyjama tops. He hissed at the pain, but the sudden entrance of air, mixed with the remnants of liquid in his mouth, made him cough, getting trapped in a coughing fit and missing his breath. For this, he started shaking and making the coffee slip from the mug, falling on his hand, which was slightly painful, and onto his crotch, which was highly painful.

“AHHHHHHH Fuckfuckfuckfuck _fuckFUCK_ ” he said, as he _carefully_ tried to put the cup on the table, meaning to avoid getting anymore on himself. “SSSSSSSSSShit” he spat, angry. He walked to the kitchen sink, where washed his hand and chin, and got some cloth to clean himself, then the table and any other drops of coffee that might have flown to unknown surfaces.

He had learned in his last few months working at a coffee shop, that the worst part about spilling a hot substance on yourself isn’t the burning sensation. It is the way it cools up, slowly, becoming lukewarm until it loses all heat, leaving you cold and moist.

Today didn’t look like it was going to be any brighter than the previous day.

\-------------

As the day went on, and as it so happens during spring, the sun came out, bringing heat into the afternoon, while Jeongguk rushed through the campus grounds towards the bus stop, sprinting as he saw it a few streets away. Enlarging his steps, he reached the stop just in time to wave at it so it stopped, and he got on, still trying to catch his breath.

He sat at the back, dropping himself on the seat, and placing his backpack on top of his legs. He pulled his phone from his pocket, plugging his headphones in, ready to emerge himself into G-Dragon tunes ( _bless his God_ ), and go through his messages. He answered a few of his classmates, who had been asking him if he had finished his project on _Light in paintings; renaissance or impressionism_ already, asking for help with that. He had been working on it for some weeks, losing sleep and eye sight little by little, but no, he hadn’t finished yet, even if he had only about another five days or so left ‘til the deadline.

Trying to forget about how he was going to not sleep that night _again_ , he checked the rest of his messages.

He sighed into his phone, trying to mentally prepare for “later”. When Hoseok was near, he always ended up messing around, laughing too hard at his strange behaviour, or worse, joining him in his odd-dances and face-deforming contests. He thought back to when he first had met the older.

_He danced with Jimin, so he saw him around the coffee-shop often to visit the short co-worker, but he already knew Hoseok, as he was Yoongi’s friend from college. Being the first one a Dance major and the second one a Music major, they found each other working together after they’d crashed multiple times in the studios._

_One day, after walking past the room where Yoongi was producing a track for one of his college projects, Hoseok “_ had caught the sound of the extremely sick beat, and begged the older to let him use it in one of his dance presentations _”; or at least that’s how Yoongi had told Jeongguk the story had gone down, but he was quite sure it had been more like a mutual agreement, knowing how much his flat-mate appreciated when someone valued and complimented his work, and Hoseok turned out to be a great source of inspiration for more music, as they continued working together and had kept doing so for the next three years so far._

_Jeongguk once had seen Hoseok improvise to a half-produced base, and he stared in awe as Yoongi arranged and mixed the harmonies to better suit the dancers moves. He had been struck by talent at that very moment, and he was able to understand how the both had grown and developed their skills together. He laughed when people asked them how could such different people be so close (Yoongi being an actual grandad and Hoseok being the impersonation of sunshine), but he knew not everyone could understand the depth and complexity of their friendship. He sometimes didn’t understand himself, and he had been with Yoongi for longer than he could remember, but he just knew that the elder hardly ever looked as relaxed as he did when he was working with Hoseok._

_Jeongguk liked to dance as well, but watching Hoseok had made him wish to gain control over his muscles with such an incredible precision. He had more than once gotten home after leaving the other two working in the studio, and tried to mimic the dancer’s moves. He wasn’t_ bad _, but he didn’t feel fully comfortable about his dancing skills. He had enough as it was with his Arts major and his work -and his existential crisis over spilt coffee-, so he didn’t exactly have time to join a club (never mind a dancing club where he would have to be sociable and talk to people and create a sense of_ team _and trust and just_ ogh _)._

_Yoongi had once walked into him dancing, and watched him for a good while before interrupting the younger and making him aware of his presence._

_“So you’re trying to be a ballerina now?” he joked while Jeongguk was moving towards his computer to rewind on the song and try a combination of steps he had felt merged together really well with the tempo of the beat. Jeongguk might or might have not, however, jumped and crashed against the chair in front of his desktop, falling back with it and crashing with his butt against the floor, giving him a pain that lasted for days and had Yoongi laughing at him and making dirty jokes even days after the pain was gone and he could walk like a normal person again._

_The day after the incident, he had been ambushed by Hoseok, who had been told by Yoongi that “the kid could move” -‘_ I have said no sort of thing you’re just a mass of coordinated muscles _’ the elder had denied later- and asked him to join his dance group. Jeongguk then proceeded to damn Min Yoongi and his stupid face, reject Hoseok’s offer as gently as he could, using work and college as a pretext, and excuse himself before the elder could convince him. Hoseok was an extremely gentle and understanding person, but when he got his head around something, he didn’t give up. He hadn’t mastered all his dance moves simply on raw talent._

Jeongguk could already see how Hoseok was going to ask him to join the group again. He would say ‘ _no, hyung, sorry, you know I’m too busy, but thanks_ ’, like he always did. It had almost become part of their routine every time they were in the same room for longer than 20 minutes.

He had other messages, and he opened them as well.

Jeongguk closed the messaging app after checking there were no more messages to read. Seokjin had told him the day before that he wanted to talk about something, and he found himself suddenly slightly worried. Was he going to get scolded for always being grumpy? Was he going to be fired for not being bright in mood like he was supposed to be when serving the customers? He was always tired and stressed, and he never paid too much attention to being particularly nice, but he _did_ need the job, and he actually _quite_ enjoyed working at the coffee shop with Seokjin. He was always watching him like a mother, but he also cared for him, and Jeongguk had become comfortable and used to working with the elder.

He grew worried about what might be waiting for him at his working place, as he huddled in the seat, trying to drown his worries in G-Dragon’s rhymes. It was no use worrying when he didn’t know yet, and he didn’t have to wait for long, as he was getting off the bus and walking towards the shop.

\------------

“Hyung?” Jeongguk asked as he opened the door to the back room in the café. They used this room for storage and for impromptu meetings (Jeongguk also used it as a hiding place if he needed to disappear for a few minutes).

“I can’t believe you’re finally treating me with the respect I deserve.” The voice came from a short human shape behind one of the shelves. The voice pitch didn’t match Seokjin’s, being slightly higher and with a lighter feeling to it, and Jeongguk rolled his eyes as he saw Jimin appear carrying packets of grinded coffee in his small but toned arms, topped with boxes of different types of tea, moving towards the door of the room.

“Hey, Jimin. I didn’t expect you around today” Jeongguk replied without formalities.

“I decided to help Seokjin-hyung with the inventory until Hoseok-hyung gets here. I know, I know, I’m too nice” Jimin walked by Jeongguk, moving dramatically to match his tone and walked out of the room to leave the contents he was carrying in the serving area, for their later usage. Jeongguk watched the door close and waited for Jimin to come back.

“Yah, you’re an absolute angel, aren’t you?” the younger said sarcastically as he walked back in. Jimin, catching fully the sarcasm in Jeongguk’s tone, but deciding to ignore it completely, laughed lightly, making his eyes turn into little crescents and showing all his teeth. “I know. And you should show some kindness to this angel by joining our dance group” Jimin suggested, wobbling his eyebrows suggestively while he giggled a bit more. He walked by Jeongguk and propped himself against the wall.

“Oh dear G.D., save me because I can’t take this. I prepared myself mentally for Hoseok’s demands but not yours. Also you have no right to ask anything of me; in fact I should be the one getting favours from you” Jeongguk deadpanned, glancing at the male standing next to him, fake hatred impregnating his tone.

Jimin came closer to Jeongguk, and winked at the younger “What sort of favours are we talking about here?” he asked, voice low.

Jeongguk gave Jimin a light push as he puffed tiredly, but he just jumped sideways easily to avoid crashing against a pile of boxes. He was laughing loudly when the doors opened.

“Seokjin-hyung!” Jimin cried as he approached the male. “Jeongguk-ah has no respect for his elders. Honestly he needs some scolding.” Jimin walked out to attend any arriving costumer, looking back to pout at Seokjin and stick his tongue out at Jeongguk before closing the door behind him, leaving the other two alone.

“He’s never as upset as he pretends to be” Jeongguk explained with a sigh. He was avoiding eye contact with the elder and suddenly his heart race increased. He remembered he was worried and his muscles tensed on their own accord.

“You’ve got no manners,” Seokjin sighed “but we’re kind of used to it by now, we’ve assumed it” he said, as if excusing the younger.

Jeongguk took a deep breath and looked up at Seokjin. He didn’t look tense or nervous, and that _had_ to mean something. It couldn’t be so bad, if Seokjin wasn’t showing any uneasiness. Then again he remembered that the elder was a major in Drama so his calming heart beat took another sprint, deciding not to trust what he was seeing. He wasn’t even good at reading people anyway. He tried to look young and innocent (Seokjin had his ‘mother’ weaknesses and Jeongguk was young and he was _not_ wasting any of his options) and he spoke “So, hyung, you wanted to talk about something?”

“Aaah, yesyesyesyes” Seokjin accompanied each affirmation with a light, excited clap. Jeongguk kept trying to read the other’s expression, but he wasn’t getting any tension or bad feelings from the elder. He actually looked quite bright, with a bit of uncharacteristic enthusiasm (he was always so calm). “So, you know how we’ve been doing the performance evenings for a while now?” his co-worked asked as he walked to stand closer to him.

“Um... yeah” Jeongguk felt confused. Did he do anything wrong regarding that? The last evening he had worked at went on quite smoothly, and he couldn’t make up what any of it might have to do with him.

He did know of the performance evenings, and quite well, as Yoongi and Hoseok had performed together a few times before. He had come to watch them –and lowkey fangirl, while he was at it- more than once, and even taken extra shifts to make sure he could help and prepare everything for the shows. There had been others who performed, as well, but he had never had the time ( _interest_ ) to stay and watch, no matter how much his friends insisted. Seokjin covered the time he wasn’t there with Jimin and some other guys he knew from college, who dropped by the café to help on especially busy days, so it wasn’t like he was dropping when needed or anything of the sort anyway.

The evening shows had actually been how Hoseok had introduced Yoongi to Seokjin –because the dancer knew just about every living soul, and was liked by each and every single one of them-, and how Jeongguk had gotten his current job, thanks to Yoongi bringing him up when the café manager had mentioned he needed more staff. ‘ _You’re only ever interested in me if I’m profitable, Yoongi-hyung_ ’ his own words from that morning resonated in his head.

“Are we having one soon?” Jeongguk inquired. Maybe Seokjin just needed to ask him to extend one of his shifts so he could help with the preparations. The younger could feel his muscles relax noticeably, and his lungs filling with air as he took full breaths again for the first time since the start of the conversation.

“Yup! In about two weeks actually” Seokjin confirmed, smiling and nodding.

“So that’s what Hoseok-hyung’s coming over for later?” Jeongguk deduced. It seemed to him like he had been stressing over nothing, and he was already scolding himself mentally for being such an anxious piece of meat.

“Coooooooorrect” Seokjin sing sung, smiling widely at Jeongguk.

There was a silence and Jeongguk felt something flick in his hyung’s mood. He was about his height, but his broad shoulders made him look slightly intimidating as he came slightly closer to him; his face however was wearing a gentle smile, but he wasn’t trying to hide that there was something hiding behind it, eyes sparking maliciously. Sometimes Yoongi would tell Jeongguk that he looked just like a scared bunny, and right now he kind of _felt_ like one. He realized that he hadn’t been asked to take an extra shift or anything similar yet, and if Seokjin had just wanted to inform him about the performance evening, he would have done it more casually without all this secrecy (and definitely not _towering_ over him).

Jeongguk stared suspiciously at the elder, lips pursed in a thin line, waiting for his demand as he held his breath. Seokjin spoke nonchalantly, as if his words meant nothing and he was just announcing the weather forecast. “Well, it’s gonna be a big one. Hoseok and Jimin have been preparing it for a while, and he already has one of the other guys he normally works with producing something for him. They’ve performed together here before but you’ve never seen them.” Seokjin explained, voice steady and smile transparent. “But like I said Hoseok and Jimin are planning on something bigger, so they’re also going to ask Yoongi to help them.”

It was now Seokjin who watched the younger’s facial expressions closely, yet he was listening carefully. There was still nothing that involved him in this story, and he just looked at the other with quizzing dark eyes. If Jimin was performing, it must of have meant that he for sure would have to cover and take care of the costumers, right? But if it was just that why hadn’t Seokjin just told him from the beginning? He couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something, like he was being very oblivious; so he waited for the other to continue explaining.

“And you’re going to help them.” Seokjin sentenced quickly, words almost overlapping. He continued, as he saw Jeongguk taking a breath, ready to refuse, “I know that you’ve told Hoseok you’re not going to join his dance crew a million times, but technically you don’t _have_ to _join_ them. It’s just a thing for a special occasion- no shush shush shut up,” Seokjin waved his hands in front of Jeongguk’s face, gesturing for the other to keep quiet before he interrupted him “you are going to help, because this is actually a very important project for the dance crew, and you can’t really say no to anything I ask for because _how can you say no to this face._ ” Seokjin finished talking as he placed his hands around his face, smiling like a professional model. He was handsome and he knew it, but he also knew his striking beauty had nothing on the younger, so he was just saying that to annoy Jeongguk, not as an actual validated argument.

Jeongguk wanted to reply but he didn’t even know where to start.

He was not joining the dance crew. ‘ _Tecnhically you don’t have to_ join _them_ ’ Seokjin had just said. Damn it.

He didn’t have time for it. It wouldn’t work. Seokjin controlled his work schedule, meaning he could manipulate it as he wanted to make sure he had the time. Fuck it.

He couldn’t even dance. ‘ _Jeongguk-ah let Hobi-hyung teach you!_ ’ Hoseok had said probably more times that he had ordered coffee. Fucking hell.

He was screaming internally, and when Seokjin told him to not shout he realized he was also screaming externally.

“This is such a conspiracy. You’re all fucking horrible and I fucking hate you and I’m gonna burn Hoseok-hyung’s coffee later.” Jeongguk threatened the elder. He couldn’t see a way out of this one, so he just looked at Seokjin straight in the eyes with his own big, round ones, and said “you’ll regret this. I do not consent to it”.

Seokjin laughed at him, knowing that he meant none of it, and waited for Jeongguk to actually refuse the offer. But the younger didn’t, and Seokjin’s face filled with surprise.

“Don’t look at me like that. You know I’m completely tied and I can’t do anything but help. Get that grin off of your face-” Seokjin was looking at Jeongguk with a wide smile, always so happy that he got what he wanted, and was able to help someone. “I’m outta here.” He grunted. “I’ll be outside. Doing my job. You know. What I’m actually here for? Well. That.” He walked out of the room, too tired to actually be angry, as Seokjin shouted “You’re the best Kookie!”, making the younger roll his eyes as he stomped towards the door to exit the coffee-shop.

He had meant to walk to the counter but Jimin was already there and he didn’t look like he needed any help and God forbid _he_ needed some fresh air before he set anything on fire from his burning rage.

Jeongguk fetched his phone and went on twitter. Taking a quick shot to fully frame the hatred burning in his eyes, he tweeted:

He uploaded the picture and the tweet, feeling the anger dissipate now that he had publicly threatened his “friends” lives. He felt so tired, the memory of the coffee incident still present, and now; this, pure and utter betrayal. He sighed, losing the will to fight or argue. Resignation was taking over the space left by the prior fury, and he put his phone back in his pocket, walking back into the shop, head low, deciding to pull the silent treatment indistinctly for the rest of the afternoon.

\---------

“Jeonggukieeee,” sang a raspy voice as the door of the café opened, “Jimin-aaah.”

Jeongguk had been ignoring Jimin and focusing solely on attending the costumers during the past hours, so as soon as Jimin heard Hoseok’s voice he run to the end of the counter, exiting from behind it and jumping on the elder.

“Hoseok-hyungieeee” he said happily as if he had seen the sun itself. “I’m so glad you’re here. Save me from him-” he pointed at Jeongguk “-he’s been giving me death stares all afternoon and I’m too beautiful and pure to die” he said pouting as he climbed off Hoseok. The later laughed loudly, patting Jimin in the head as they walked towards the counter. “I could differ on the _pure_ part though” he replied chuckling and rising his eyebrows.

“Hi Jeonggukie” Hoseok said, smiling widely as he stood in front of the boy. “Can I have my mint coffee please? We’ll be at that table in the back” he pointed at one of the long tables which they normally occupied when a few of them met at the coffee shop. It had a sofa on one of the sides –which at first they fought over, but Jeongguk always won when it came to physical contests, so there wasn’t much to fight for anymore-, and chairs surrounding the rest of the laterals.

Hoseok knew Jeongguk well from spending time with the boy and Yoongi, so he bounced off with Jimin chatting lively, giving the younger no time to spit back his signature dry replies.

Jeongguk grunted as he turned around to prepare the beverage, still debating with himself whether or not he should burn the coffee. Deciding it’s on the business’ best interest not to, and reminding himself how scared he had been of being fired three hours ago, he simply glared at the coffee as it poured out of the machine, hoping it might not taste as good if he made it angrily.

Seokjin joined Jeongguk at the counter as the boy was putting the lid on the cup. “I’ll take care of the orders, you can go sit with them for a bit” the elder offered with a smile. Jeongguk rolled his eyes and rid himself of the black apron he wore for brewing.

As he turned to face in the direction of the table, he saw that a third person had joined the dancers. He had his back to Jeongguk, as he was hugging Jimin enthusiastically whilst the other laughed at something on his phone screen. The new boy was tall and had a slim figure; his clothes hanged loosely over his body, engulfing him in a mess of black and grey fabrics. He let go of Jimin and walked to sit on the couch –‘ _excuse you?_ ’ Jeongguk thought- as the other too laughed out loud at something he said.

Jeongguk felt his phone buzz in his pocket, which snapped him back to reality and made him realize he had been staring for a bit at the trio. He grabbed Hoseok’s coffee with one hand, and pulled out his phone to check the notification with the other. A few favourites and retweets from twitter, and a reply to his previous tweet. He pressed on it, his legs walking towards the table on their own thanks to muscle memory.

Jeongguk had just reached the table, and was locking it after checking the app. He pushed his phone back into the front pocket of his black skinny jeans, and looked up to face the elder.

“You really need a n-” _ew hair do_. The words died in his tongue as he saw who was sitting at the table. ‘ _Jimin’s fan boy?_ ’ His face turned to disgust as he remembered his encounter with the brunette the previous day. The boy looked back at him, with a mildly disturbed expression from feeling stared at.

Hoseok yelped and reached for his coffee, still held tight in Jeongguk’s hand. “Yaaaaaaas babe come to me” he hummed as he pushed it to himself and took a sip, face lighting up as he tasted the drink. It seemed like staring at it with anger hadn’t made it any less tasty. Jimin looked between Jeongguk and his friend, who were still glaring at each other.

“Jeongguk you’re gonna drill a hole in Tae’s face” Jimin said as he hit the younger on the arm. Jeongguk snapped at that, grabbing the elder in a headlock.

“Yo shortie, this is a fight you can’t win” Jeongguk threatened as he messed the orange hair on Jimin’s head. He lowkey thanked him though, because he had just lost himself in the annoyance of having the newcomer present. He let go, receding far enough to avoid any hits of revenge that might come. “Anyway,” he turned to Taehyung –hearing Jimin call him Tae, and having his embarrassing ‘ _hyung_ ’ joke from the previous day spring back to memory, he remembered his name- “can I get you anything?” He tried to sound friendly, or at least not to sound like he wanted for the boy to dissipate into thin air.

Taehyung stared at him, obviously bothered by his behaviour when he had just about talked to him _once_ , and was quite sure he hadn’t done anything to deserve that sort of treatment. He turned his face, ignoring the question, and shifting his frown to a wide smile as he looked at Jimin “Jimin-ah, will you make me a _caramel macchiato_? Pretty please?” he reached to grab his hands and blinked at him a few times.

Jimin puffed and whined as he answered his friend. “But Jeongguk just offered, why do you have to make _me_ work?” He leaned closer and lowered his voice “I promise he’s not going to poison you, he’s not as dangerous as he looks” Jimin ended this sentence with a cry as Jeongguk kicked him in the leg, making him lose his point completely.

“You make his drink, jerk” Jeongguk said, not sparing a look on neither of the two, and taking a seat next to Hoseok. He would have normally sat on the sofa, but with Taehyung there he felt his body refusing the proximity. Hoseok seemed too excited to notice, as he turned to the younger with happiness written all over his face.

“So, why do you think I’m this happy today, Jeongguk?” Hoseok asked. Jimin and Taehyung were getting up and they headed to the counter to get drinks for themselves. Jeongguk took this chance to reconquer his rightful place on the couch as soon as he saw them reach Seokjin. He drew out his phone and played with it for a while, opening and closing apps for a few minutes to avoid answering.

“I don’t know hyung, did you finally get Yoongi to admit you’re rapper material?” Jeongguk knew this was a topic the two discussed frequently, the elder refusing to acknowledge publicly his friends’ multiple talents, and he hoped he could deviate the conversation from any topic involving himself.

“Pft, we both know he will only ever admit it when he’s downed _minimum_ two bottles of soju” he responded smiling. “Nope, it was you. Oh the great Jeon Jeongguk has made his Hobi-hyung the happiest human today. I feel like I could fight the sun and I’d still shine brighter”. Jeongguk couldn’t help but laugh at his friends exaggerations, failing to maintain his anger. Damn it. ‘ _Fuck Jung Hoseok and his infinite charm_.’ “Seokjin-hyung told me already,” he placed a finger over Jeongguk’s lips dramatically, “you don’t need to say it”. The younger slapped his hand away before answering to Hoseok’s theatricals.

“This is a one-time thing. I’m not going to be happy about this and I’m only helping because I _absolutely have to_. And I declare my hatred to all of you. And you all owe me pizza. Or something.” Threatening was definitely something he had to work on if he wanted to actually sound menacing at all.

“We’ll get you pizza” Jimin said as he sat back down. He handed Jeongguk a coffee, as Taehyung sat beside his roomate, looking strangely at his stolen place on the sofa, but not at the stealer. “Payback starts with this coffee. I still don’t get why you like Americano though-” he shamelessly took a sip from said drink “it’s too bitter.” He pulled his tongue out, making a face at the flavour. He took a quick sip from his café latté, trying to mask the previous taste.

“It’s Yoongi-hyung’s doing” Hoseok pointed out, knowing his friends habits.

“I bet his soul is as bitter as that coffee” Jimin scrunched his nose, still affected by the taste. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve properly introduced you two. You had a stare-off before but that doesn’t really count.”

“I’m Taehyung, Jimin’s best friend forever and husband-to-be” Taehyung introduced himself as he laid his head longingly on his best friends shoulder.

“We’re also rommates” Jimin remarked, not bothering to deny Taehyung’s marriage arrangement. Jeongguk knew for a fact that Jimin didn’t have a boyfriend, because although they didn’t have many joint schedules, he had seen his co-worker flirt with most of the costumers he attended. He had gotten many numbers, but he threw them all away ‘ _I only do it for the fun, flirting with strangers is just_ brilliant’ he remembered the boy explaining once.

“Mh. Jeongguk. I work with the bun-faced here” Jeongguk nodded at Jimin as he introduced himself. He didn’t understand why, but every second with Taehyung in front of him made him incredibly uneasy.

“Tae, Jimin and I already know each other from dance practice,” Hoseok added “so I guess that’s all the required introductions”. “Now, down to business” he wriggled his eyebrows and did a weird dance with his arms, looking at the others. He always did that when he got uncontrollably excited, and it had lead to more than one unwanted slaps. Always fun being around Hoseok, but never if _those_ accidental slaps hit anywhere near Min Yoongi; definitely a scenario to which Jeongguk never wanted to return.

“The Performance” Jimin and Taehyung said solemnly, placing a hand over their chests.

Hoseok then started explaining all about it; they were going to do a dance performance, and Yoongi-hyung and Namjoon-hyung (that was the other boy who Hoseok had been working with) had both agreed to produce jointly, while Hoseok and Jimin would prepare the choreography. Taehyung seemed to be in charge of production and stage settings as well. They had two weeks to prepare, and that left Jeongguk slightly unsteady.

“Will we have time, though? Like, two weeks seem-” Jeongguk started.

“Hobi-hyung and Jiminnie have gone through harder.” Taehyung cut him “They wouldn’t ask for help if it was going to burden anyone” he deadpanned.

Jeongguk stared at the boy with annoyance. “Not all of us are professional dancers.”

“All we have to do is practise harder.” He looked back, not intimidated by the younger, but definitely irritated at his constant disrespects and negativity. Jimin feared the two were going to have another staring contest, but Taehyung looked away from the younger as his phone made a sound.

He looked at it for a bit “Baekhyun-hyung wants to go over our presentation, so I have to get going.” He hugged Jimin from the side, looking happy again ‘ _What a voluble person, honestly_ ’ Jeongguk thought, “I’ll see you at the dorm later” he looked at Hoseok “see you around Hobi-hyuuuung” and dropped a low “bye” to Jeongguk, without even looking at him, at the same time he turned and walked away from the table.

The youngest cletched his jaw as he saw him wave Seokjin goodbye and exit the store. He had never met someone as annoying as Taehyung, and even though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was it that annoyed him so much, he started to dread having to work with him for the performance.

‘ _He’ll probably make us all look like hobos_ ’ he was thinking when Hoseok snapped his fingers in front of him.

“I don’t know if you want to fuck him or kill him dude, but leave that for later, yeah?” he said, and Jeongguk made a face of disgust.

“Dude what the actual flying fuck-”

“I’m not judging but we have work to do so listen to me.” The dancer said finally. Jeongguk resigned –whilst feeling tremendously offended _because_ no _he did_ not _want to fuck him_ … anymore. He was handsome but also turned out to be an absolute distress so _fuck no_ \- and payed attention to the elder.

They then spent the next hour arranging times to make sure they could all practise as much as they could. Names floated around but Jeongguk didn’t really pay attention to the other’s schedules. He thanked the Gods for being in good shape because four dance practices a week –he couldn’t do more, with college projects and work- would kill him if he wasn’t.

They would start in two days, meaning he had to finish as many projects as he could for the up-coming two weeks in two days. Setting himself on fire looked like a very pleasing option for the third time that day.

After a bit more talking, the trio stretched in their seats, letting go of the stress of making all the timetables blend and work together. Jimin had work to do, so he said goodbye to Jeongguk, and went to Seokjin to do the same. Hoseok looked at the younger, who was sitting on the sofa as if he had fallen from a fifth floor.

“Kookie, I do mean it. Thank you for helping. This is actually a really important project for us and I know that you’re always super busy so… yeah man, I really appreciate it.” Hoseok was a clown but he never failed to be grateful and make his friends feel cherished.

Jeongguk grunted “Don’t mention it-” he sat up “I won’t forget about the pizza though.”

Hoseok laughed and got up, jumping away from the younger to join Jimin, waving Seokjin goodbye and leaving the coffee-shop. Jeongguk remained seated for a few minutes, until Seokjin sat next to him. Jeongguk looked up worriedly, because if Seokjin was there then no one was attending the costumers, but he then realized there were none of those left inside the coffee-shop.

“I’ve already cleaned and sorted everything for tomorrow. I hope you made good use of the time I lent you” the elder explained. Jeongguk hadn’t realized, but he had spent a long time talking to the other two, and it was now closing time.

“I’m mentally exhausted, so thanks hyung.” He got up from the couch and rested a hand on Seokjin’s broad shoulders, looking at him through bangs of black hair, too tired to move them out of the way. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He walked out of the café and to the bus stop. As soon as he got on it, he slept lightly ‘ _I’m just resting my eyes_ ’, he told himself.

\----------

“Helloooooo” Jeongguk said lazily as he opened the door to his flat. Thanks to living with Yoongi he didn’t have to live in the campus, but the bus ride from the café to the flat was a bit longer than from class to work.

He didn’t get back an answer. “Yoongi-hyung?” he insisted.

Nothing.

He decided to check his phone for missing texts, but he had nothing, so instead he messaged the elder, and headed to the shower whilst he waited for his reply.

After he had finished and he felt slightly more alive, he went to the kitchen and found the flat as empty as before. He turned the kettle on, and cut some vegetables while he waited for the water to boil. He poured water into a packet of instant rice, and once it was ready he mixed it with some chicken left overs he found on the fridge, and sat down at the sofa, highly pleased with his meal. He walked back to grab his phone and a bottle of water, and sat down. He ate distractedly while reading manga online, until he got a text from Yoongi.

His and Yoongi’s text exchanges never exceeded more than five words per sentence, so Jeongguk replied with an “OK” emoji, and went back to reading.

A few minutes later Yoongi was walking in.

“Hello” he said automatically as he closed the door behind him.

“Hi hyung” Jeongguk answered from the sofa, not looking away from his phone. “Did you get too invested again? You need to eat, you’re already too small” Jeongguk joked. He wasn’t looking at the elder, so he wasn’t aware as he spoke, that he was just behind him, so when he got hit in the head he truly wasn’t expecting it.

“Maybe if you were nice enough to not eat my food, I would have grown more. And excuse me but 1.76cm is a perfectly well and average height.” He spoke as he walked to the kitchen and grabbed the rest of the chicken left overs and a beer. He sat next to Jeongguk and started eating.

“So, what got you hooked up this time? I was with Hoseok-hyung so… are you cheating on him? I’ll tell him if you’re producing for somebody else” Jeongguk joked, placing a hand in front of his face and gasping dramatically.

“Actually I was with Namjoon-ah, we’re producing for the performance and we were in the middle of perfecting a few sound effects” Yoongi moved his head to the sides, making a face to remark how good the sounds had turned out after working so much on them. “It’s quite easy to work with him, actually.” He continued without waiting for Jeongguk’s question. “He’s a bit of a genius so with that and my never-ending talent I’m sure this song is going to be _quite fucking amazing_ if I say so myself. Also our styles mash in a very interesting way… he really likes vocals though, so we might have to look into that…” Yoongi trailed off, thinking while he munched on a piece of meat.

Jeongguk had helped Yoongi with vocals only a few times in all the years they had known each other, and only for backing vocals, so he knew the elder wasn’t keen on adding main vocals to his tracks. The younger had helped because he owed Yoongi too much as to say no to such a tiny favour, and because he was never credited in the songs. He didn’t want anybody to know about his hidden talent, because if someone knows you can sing, they always ask you to show them, and he preferred to save himself from the public eye and judgment.

“Who’s this Namjoon anyway? I keep hearing about him today but I’ve never seen his name in the performance posters” Jeongguk asked.

“He’s Hoseok’s flatmate, and goes by Rap Monster when he performs” Yoongi explained, and the boy could recall seeing that name on the posters.

Of course. He knew some people did this, for Yoongi himself went by Suga and Hoseok went by J-hope. He had asked Jimin why he didn’t have a _stage_ name but he told him he liked his name too much to get another one. Jeongguk had suggested ‘Bunbun’ sarcastically, because of his round chubby cheeks, but the elder had smacked him and told him he should go by “emoboi” if he had to rely on looks. Jeongguk ignored the comeback, not because of the name, but because ‘ _I don’t need a stage name, you twat_ ’.

Guess he did now.

It was definitely not going to be “emoboi” though, he could swear on that.

“So you agreed to help then?” Yoongi asked, changing his tone and looking at Jeongguk. His face showed disbelief and a certain degree of worry.

“I had no other choice” the younger muffled through his teeth. “I compromised though, so don’t worry, I won’t drop out. Not again.” Jeongguk looked at his phone, feeling the other’s gaze on him.

He felt Yoongi relax on his seat, and take a deep breath. “It’s a very important project this one, Jeongguk-ah.”

Jeongguk had heard that more times than his own name that day, but he hadn’t actually been explained what was so important about it. At first he thought it was important because it was a joint project and _friendship and shit_ , but now he was actually curious about it.

“Why is it so important? You all keep saying that, but isn’t it just another performance?”

“No. Didn’t Hoseok tell you?” Yoongi asked, and the younger shook his head in reply. “Well, I guess he was too excited about you finally joining them.” he snickered. “He got a call from a dancing company.” Jeongguk’s eyes went round at this. He knew Hoseok was popular, but he didn’t think he was _that_ popular.

“They offered a job, but he has to go through trial and _prove himself worthy_ or some scary shit like that. Basically he has to be able to make this performance successful. He has to arrange it all with a very short dead line, no more budget than he would normally have- God bless Seokjin and his liking for live art because otherwise _where_ would we perform- and he needs to direct and sort the whole choreo by himself. You’d think he would feel pressure, but he’s the happiest I’ve seen him since I met him”.

Jeongguk listened carefully, for he was in shock about the news, and he was amazed Yoongi had said so many sentences one after the other.

“Ah. Okay. I see.” Jeongguk was amazed. He was slightly struck by the news, and he now felt pressured to help the dancer succeed. “Wow…” never one for words, he felt trully speechless.

“So yeah…” Yoongi said lowly.

“Don’t worry. It’s okay now. Anyway, I’ve got… projects to finish so like… I’ll see you in the morning.” Jeongguk said, avoiding further conversation, and he walked off the sofa and to his room, passing by the kitchen to leave his dinner plates on the sink.

Jeongguk spent the night working, reading through two essays he had almost finished, and rendering them done as he added a few details and references, and wrote a few more pages on his _Light in paintings; renaissance or impressionism_ project. He was seeing the end of it already, but he couldn’t finish it yet, no matter how much work he wanted to get done. This was a project he had poured his soul into for way too long and he wasn’t going to mess it up by finishing it in a rampage.

Also, he had set himself to attend a small presentation an elder student was holding the upcoming week, all about the usage of shadow in paint, and he knew he could get some good points out of that for his project, so he saved it and decided to finish it as soon as he attended the presentation, which was actually just the day he had to hand it in.

Resolving on that, he went to bed, marking that day as the day he was betrayed by his friends. He didn’t mark it as the day he became a lone soul, because now he could not feel angry at them anymore, and he knew it was for a greater good. Still, he felt asleep muffling his groans against his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!  
> See you next week!
> 
> ps: ilysm my favourite child


	3. Thursday: Outing (JK)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we are again! tiny update before a longer one~

When he woke up the next day it was a Thursday, and Jeongguk loved Thursdays. He only had two lessons in the morning, and did not have any hours at the café. It had become a habit of his to spend the afternoon working or engaging on some of his favourite spare time activities: watching anime, playing videogames, dancing, or even singing around the flat. It generally depended on how much energy he had in him, and whether or not the flat was empty.

When he came back from his morning lectures, and having worked so hard the night prior, he decided to give himself the other type of break he enjoyed: an outside jog.

A while ago he had been wandering away from the city centre, running without a direction in his mind, when he had stumbled upon a pathed entrance to a small but dense forest. He felt free running through the uneven ground, his steps resounding on grass or cracking fallen twitches, and slowly decreased the rhythm of his steps, until he was walking, breath faltering, feeling lost in the wonderful sight of the nature around him.

It was the first time he hadn’t felt trapped since he had moved to the big city foe college. Being from Busan he was used to quick escapes to embrace nature in the beach or the parks, but Seoul was a whole different story and, as beautiful as he found the urbanism, he had forgotten just how well he felt when his tired lungs breathed newly produced oxygen from the trees around him.

He had decided he would only visit the forest when he really needed it, so that he wouldn’t wear off the effect it had on him, and he was sure he needed just that to feel better.

After checking his email and planning a few more assignments, the raven haired boy put on a pair of grey sweats and a loose black t-shirt. He stretched for a few minutes, and headed outside eagerly.

Finding his way with ease, he skipped lightly until he found his favourite place in there: a small clearing, where white and red flowers covered most of the ground, small but spread all around, and he let himself drop on the ground, feeling the wetness of the grass under his bare, toned arms. It was a bit chilly, but his skin felt hot and he was covered in sweat from running, exhaustion spreading over his muscles as his breathing fought its way in and out of his lungs, trying to return to a steady pace.

His sport clothes were damp with sweat and humidity as he laid there, staring at the branches of the trees move, creating funny shapes where the fading sunlight went through them. It had been a sunny day, and although it was already starting to darken, he stretched his time there as much as he could, laying there until he felt the first shiver go down his spine.

He had managed to get lost in his surroundings, and he had freed himself from the tension and the stress of the previous days. He liked pushing his body to the limit because the creeping anxiety that kept his lungs pressed couldn’t overcome the strain he put on his organs when he forced them to move so he could continue moving without collapsing. He always felt lighter after.

Taking a deep breath, he got up, and a thought invaded his mind; the highlight of the upcoming dancing sessions: body exertion. He found himself smirking slightly at the thought, looking forward to it.

He ran back home with only the company of his music –he liked listening to heavier sounds while exercising, such as Linkin Park-, and as soon as he arrived he noticed the flat was still empty, so he headed to the shower, and let the warm water relax his overworked muscles.

Once he was finished, he dropped on his bed and grabbed his phone, checking twitter and laughing at a few memes on his timeline. He truly loved that simple, yet ultimately complex type of humour. After seeing a few and getting close to tears, he noticed they were all retweets from the same account, courtesy of Jimin. So he pressed on _@QTaeTae_ absent mindedly, hoping for more relatable jokes.

It clicked in his head exactly at the same time his phone loaded the page and he saw the icon. Irritation already gathering in his stomach, he closed the app, and shoved his phone on his bed side table. The boy in the picture had orange hair, which didn’t match the present image of him from their previous encounters, but Jeongguk recognised that stupid square-grin.

He had managed to avoid thinking about the boy and the fact that he would have to see him, work with him, _dance_ with him –okay maybe not _with_ him but like… near enough-. Taehyung’s face had ruined his tranquil, relaxed ‘ _I fucking ran for this shit’_ zen state, and he could feel his aversion towards the boy grow stronger.

He fell asleep grumpily, thinking how the elder had ruined his perfect Thursday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!! I hope you're enjoying the story so far ^^  
> Feedback is always welcome and so are your lovely kudos! ♡


	4. Friday: Support (JK)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a long one~

When the alarm goes off in the morning, Jeongguk wakes up from an unsettling dream. Not being quite able to remember, but trying to put the pieces together, he spends his shower time trying to decipher _why_ exactly he had dreamed about being followed by giant hands. He wasn’t 9 and scared of _the thumb people_ from ‘Spy Kids’ anymore.

Freshly washed, he came out of the shower and went to the kitchen to have breakfast. He saw puffy mint green poking out from behind the sofa.

“Morning, Hyung” he greeted as he walked to serve himself a cup of coffee, the welcoming smell making him feel at peace with himself.

“Morning, kiddo” the elder replied. “Ready for this magical, magical day?” he sneered.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He let himself fall on the couch next to his flatmate. He looked at the elder, who had bags under his eyes. “Can’t say the same about you, though” he pointed. “Remember, hyung, you won’t grow if you don’t get your 8 hours of sleep!” he scoffed.

“I don’t need to grow anymore to go against you, brat” he said, matching his words with a slap of his hand on the younger’s arm, remarking his point.

Jeongguk stifled a laugh, and asked “How’s the track going?”

Yoongi turned to the younger, excitement flooding his soft features, eyes wide “Amazing.” He smiled wirily. “Honestly, dude, there’s still work to do, and it’s far from perfect, but… it already makes me feel… something.”

Jeongguk had learnt long ago that what Yoongi most valued in his music was getting it to able to make people feel something. Whatever it was, music was nothing without a feeling, a sentiment, behind it. Of course he was a perfectionist and extremely caring of the production process, having spent hours arranging and rearranging harmonies, delaying effects, or even re-recording whole verses, but if a song didn’t flip something in you, that song wasn’t worthy, no matter how perfect it might be from the technical point of view.

Yawning and stretching, Yoongi got up from the sofa. “Anyway man, you’ll see. I’m gonna head. I’ll be meeting Namjoon after class, so worry about me and lunch. Don’t sleep around. And eat.” Walking towards the door, he talked while he put on his boots, and with a last warning look accompanying his last words, he walked out, waving with a cheery “See you lateeer~”.

The younger stretched, and once he had finished his coffee, he left to class.

\----------

Standing up from his chair, Jeongguk felt his back crack at the sudden stiffness. ‘ _Either they do less lectures a day, or they get better chairs, because fucking hell my_ ass _is killing me_ ’ he complained in his mind as he put his stuff into his backpack. Looking up with a light sigh, he saw his teacher wave at him, and he approached the desk in front of the class; bag over one shoulder, as his classmates exited the room.

“Hi, Kim-seonsaeng” Jeongguk greeted his professor when he was close enough, bowing. He was smaller than him, but although he had to look down on him physically, he looked up to him figuratively. They shared interests and the younger held great admiration in the way he taught, always with a soft smile, getting the class to appreciate art as much as he did. Jeongguk found this trait particularly impressive, as it’s never easy to make a class of somehow always hungover, sleep deprived and hormonal youngsters work on their own will; but he did, because he had awoken a passion in them for the subject.

“Jeongguk” the teacher greeted him with a light bow of the head. “How are you today?”

“I’m doing well, my hand hurts though. I never get to write all that I want with you, there’s always so many ideas while you’re explaining” the younger complained jokingly.

His professor laughed, smile wide and eyes closing “I can’t apologize for that, though”. He giggled a bit more, and asked “How’s your project going?”

“Very well, actually. I mean, there’s always _more_ you want to do, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out. I actually was just waiting for the open presentation on Monday to give the last touches, and then I’ll most likely have it finished.”

Professor Kim Jongdae had been the one to suggest the open presentation he signed up to, telling him that it would be great for him. He had initially proposed it more as an extracurricular activity, to fulfil the younger’s hunger for knowledge, but Jeongguk wasn’t going to _not_ make it also part of his curriculum. He was interested, but he wasn’t about to not make the most of it. Two birds, one shot; or so they say. He didn’t like to think about shooting birds. _‘Idioms are stupid…’_

“That’s just great. I can’t wait to read your opinion on the matter. You always bring something new to the table, somehow. I’ll ask Professor Byun to stick around for your questions after the presentation.” He offered with a gentle smile.

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.” Jeongguk bowed slightly, and made his way towards the door, as the other waved him goodbye.

The younger walked to the cafeteria, thinking about his professor and professor Byun. He wasn’t one to stick his nose in other’s peoples’ business, but he was _weak_ if the business involved a gay romance between two of the _hottest_ teachers from the Art department. He had never had class with professor Byun, because he specialized in Design, but he had seen him. And he was a sight to behold if anything. Soft features, and a sensual air to him. In Jeongguk’s humble opinion, he matched professor’s Kim quiet and beautiful aura perfectly.

It was sometime around the middle of his second year in university that he started shipping teachers. He didn’t care whether it was true or not, it just _happened_ and it surely made his days a lot less boring.

He bought a sandwich and headed to the dance studio. There was still about an hour before dance practice started, so he chose to sit in one of the benches outside the building, enjoying his meal under the spring sun. Picking out his phone, he read HunterXHunter online and ate in peace.

About half an hour later, and in the middle of a very _intense_ fight, a pair of small, soft hands, covered Jeongguk’s eyes. He sighed, used to Jimin’s mischiefs.

“GUESS WHO” a high, light voice said, from somewhere behind him.

“If you talk it makes the eye covering quite useless; I hope you know that Jimin” Jeongguk pointed out, waiting for Jimin to put his hands away. When he did, giggling, Jeongguk was made aware of the slim figure standing beside the bench.

He looks up, slightly mesmerized by the way the sun was making the golden looking strands of hair shine. Had he died his hair again? _‘He’ll turn bold before he hits 30_ ’ the younger thought. Taehyung coughed, feeling watched, and nodded his head slightly.

“Hey” he said drily.

“Uh-, ah. Uhm.” ‘ _Great job, fucktard._ ’ He coughed, and tried again. “Yo”. He mentally pat himself in the back for being an awkward potato.

“Wow. Great talk guys. Honestly.” Jimin rolled his eyes and sighed exaggeratedly. “I’m not too sure if you wanna rip your heads or your clothes off each other-”

“ _Fuck you_ ” Jeongguk spat.

“ _Piss off_ ” Taehyung echoed.

“-but we’ve got stuff to do.” He finished, unbothered.

Jeongguk got up from the bench and joined Jimin “Just because you want to fuck anything that moves doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t have _criteria_ ” he told the elder.

“Rude.” Taehyung deadpanned.

_‘Oups’_

“Anyhow, I’ll see you later Jimin-ah” Taehyung said, his voice turning sweet and mellow towards his best friend. Giving him a light kiss on the cheek, to which his best friend answered with a fond smile; and he was off.

“Please, don’t bother sending me a wedding invitation” Jeongguk said once he was away. Jimin was opening his mouth to reply, but the younger cut him. “Where’s he going anyway? So much for ‘ _we’ll just have to work harder_ ’”. He echoed Taehyung’s words from their little quarrel on the café.

“Will you stop it? You don’t know him but you give him so much shit” Jimin said, suddenly serious, noting the rude tone in the younger. “Like, honestly, _calm yo tits._ Go get laid. Jack off for all I care but _duuuuuude_ you need to chillax”.

Jeongguk was at a loss of words with Jimin’s attitude. He discards the ‘ _He’s just utterly annoying_ ’ that dances on the tip of his tongue, deciding to keep that for himself in sakes of his wellbeing. He could take Jimin anytime, but it didn’t mean he would come out of it unscarred.

“Dude… what have you been watching?” He asked instead. It was common for the shorter to pick up slang and expressions from watching TV shows, but he hadn’t grown accustomed to it just yet, his expressions changing way too suddenly.

“Binge watched Friends again” Jimin whispered without a hint of regret.

The younger mocked him and they start moving. They chatted a bit more about their days until they reached the practice room.

“Hoseok-hyungiiiiiiie” Jimin sang as he opened the door and jumped on the elder’s back.

“Jiminnieeeeeeee” he greeted him.

“You guys are actually like, five. I swear” Jeongguk said, rolling his eyes at them.

“We’re too bright for this world.” Hoseok replied dramatically.

“This emo kid’s gonna bring us down” Jimin whispered on Hoseok’s ear, eyes locked on the younger.

“Fuck you” Jeongguk replied simply as he dropped his bag on the floor, and reached in to grab a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. Jimin had already been wearing his sports clothes when he had met him outside, but he hadn’t thought of getting changed yet.

“So is Tae with Baekhyun?” Hoseok asked Jimin as they stretched their legs on the floor.

Jeongguk excused himself to the toilet to get changed, exiting when the now blonde comes up in conversation. He might not like him, but there was no real reason to be rude about it to his friends, _other than to piss them off._ Which was fun, but he decided he should save his energy for the dancing.

When he came back, pair of jeans and sweater switched for more appropriate clothing, Hoseok and Jimin were talking over some steps. He watched them move gracefully, and noticed how talented Jimin was. His movements were not as technical as Hoseok, his style more casual and smooth, one movement leading to another. He stares, impressed to see so much talent. Hoseok’s body moves flawlessly, marking each step with sharp precision. They were both doing exactly the same, but it felt different, even though they were perfectly in sink. ‘ _I guess that’s what they call style, flow,_ swag _,’_ he thought as he waited to be noticed, taking the chance to stretch, amused just by watching.

Hoseok was turning to the side to try a new step, when he noticed Jeongguk standing.

“Ah! Kookie, you’re back. Okay, okay. Let’s do a bit of freestyle guys. First, because it’s fun. Second, ‘cause I need to know what I’m working with. And also, because it’s fuuuuuuuuun” the eldest announced happily, stretching the vowel as he moved towards the speakers, where his phone was plugged.

“But, I don’t-” Jeongguk started.

“it’s FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN” The elder reiterated, joined by Jimin as he echoed the last word. “Honestly, just… let go, we’ll start, so you’re more comfortable, but don’t feel any pressure, okay?” he tried to calm the younger, looking down at his phone and typing something into it. “You can stretch a bit more while you watch us”.

“C’mon, _Golden Maknae_ , show us how you can just do _anything_ ” Jimin challenged him, as Hoseok played “La-La-La” by Big Bang. Well, at least he knew the beat to this one, and he could work with that. And he wasn’t one to lose a challenge, never the less to Park Jimin.

Hoseok started to dance, body snapping with the beat, and turning into _jelly_ the second after, giving him an effect of being tough as rock one second, and flexible as gum the next one. Jimin followed, his movements adapting to the base of the song with ease, his whole body a coherent sequence of movements, so careful yet so natural. They looked in their element.

When Jeongguk’s turn came, he didn’t’t know where to start, so he just waved a bit, and jumped on his feet. His steps weren’t particularly skilled, lacking the proper training, but he was agile with his body. He replayed some of the moves he had grown accustomed to copy, making sure to fit them with the music.

“Jeongguk-ah! I can tell why Yoongi said you could dance, man” Hoseok said animatedly, while clapping. He was _beaming_ , and Jeongguk blushed a little, but of course it was because he had been dancing. _Of course_. “You’ve got the muscle and the feeling. Now it’s training until you get the practice and technique!”

“Damn you talented twat” Jimin said happily, ruffling his hair and elbowing his side.

“Alright, alright, let’s try something else. Another style. But now we’ll play The King.” Hoseok said.

“Basically one of us does a dance move and then we have to copy it and add another one to it” Jimin clarified, seeing the question in the younger’s face.

And so they do. Hoseok played ‘ _That’s my Jam_ ’ by B.A.P. and they placed themselves in a triangle shape in front of the mirrors. Jeongguk felt a bit intimidated, seeing himself in front of the mirror, his self-awareness growing strong. He tried to copy Hoseok and Jimin, and for the most part, he got the moves right, having to ask them to explain just a few, and adding his own – _noticeably more simple_ -; but he felt like he wasn’t giving the same feeling as the others. He felt awkward and it crept under his skin.

When the song finishes, the dancers turned to the younger, and Hoseok patted him on the shoulder.

“It looks like you’re not gonna give us hard work” he said with a smile.

“look so _awkward_ hyung what the-”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll get your own flow when you get used to it.” He patted his shoulder again, comforting him.

“It took me a while to get my feeling of it as well” Jimin added, while bending fully and hugging his legs.

“And now you look like you’re going to fuck half of the people of the crowd” Hoseok snickered at him.

“Maybe I will” Jimin joked with a wink.

Laughing, Hoseok turned to Jeongguk “Well, we’re gonna start with the routine now. The actual song isn’t finished, but I’ve got the base of the beat and we’re gonna start working from that. Also that way you can familiarise with the dance moves.” He explained.

“Mh” Jeongguk hummed in affirmation.

“Now’s when the fun starts” Jimin mocks him. “You’re standing your ground pretty well, Jeon Jeongguk. But I wanna see you _sweat._ ” Jimin said warily, adding a light fake evil laugh at the end.

“Are you trying to scare me, Park meter-and-a-half Jimin?” the younger stood in front of the elder.

“I’mma get some sense for elder respect into you, boy” Jimin replies, with no threat in his voice, reaching towards the younger’s front and surprising him with a tickle attack.

And that was a fight Jeongguk was _sure_ to lose.

“FUCK JIMIN. STOP OH MY- JESUS. STOP.” He was trapped in a laughing fit, muscles not responding properly to his demands, and voice cracking with giggles and squeaks. Shoving himself to the ground and hugging his torso with his arms for protection, he finally managed to escape the elder, trying to catch his breath.

“You’re too entertaining to watch, honestly. But let’s get down to business, boys”. Hoseok announced. And then there was a change in his features. Still bright and still gentle, but much more focused. Jeongguk was slightly shocked by the sudden change, but Jimin responded with the same attitude, offering the younger who was still crouched in the floor a hand to stand on his feet. Jimin also looked a lot more serious, and the three positioned themselves in front of the mirror, one next to each other, with Hoseok in the middle.

They started practising each step, Jeongguk joining the other two on this new manner of seriousness, and before he had realized it, he had lost himself with the feeling of his body moving. It came naturally to him, and Hoseok’s praising when he understood the steps without much explanation made him feel pride warming up inside. Sometimes when he couldn’t decipher which leg moved first, or what the angle of the arms had to be, Jimin would need less than five words for him to get it. The youngest was the tallest of the three, but he felt small and thankful for having such talented dancers teach him. Not that he was going to tell them though. _Ever_. He was thankful but he would never see the end of it from Jimin. Also, he thought, maybe the reason his body was adapting so well to the moves was because of how many hours he had already spent coping Hoseok’s dancing. Which he was not going to confess either.

They had been moving in sink for a while, when a phone ringed.

“Guess that’s it for today then” Hoseok explained, reaching for the devise and turning off the alarm. “Let’s do a bit of stretching before we leave, though”, he said as he propped himself on the floor and reached for his feet.

“So, did you suffer much?” Jimin asked Jeongguk, sat on the floor spreading his legs and leaning forward.

‘ _What is he made of, rubber? Jesus…’_

“Only because I saw your face in the mirror really” the younger replied, joining him on the floor and crossing one leg over the other, turning his torso in the opposite direction to look at Jimin.

“Sometimes beauty is painful” Hoseok said dramatically, falling to the floor with grace and control, avoiding any chance of hurting himself.

‘ _Okay now, that was cool’_

Jimin giggled and smiled at Hoseok, winking. The elder winked back, to which the other dancer replied with a grin. It was downfall from there, their faces becoming more and more deformed with each face they pulled at each other. Jeongguk couldn’t hold back his laugh for too long, and totally lost it when his co-worker shrunk his head onto his shoulders and made a face like he had bitten a lemon. Rolling compulsively on the floor, the happy sound filled the room, Hoseok’s hysterical laugh bouncing on every wall.

“No, but honestly, how was it?” Hoseok inquired once they had stopped sounding like dying animals. “I mean I could tell you were enjoying it, because c’mon, _who doesn’t have fun when I’m in the room”_ –he flipped his hair-, “but I need to know about my actual teaching skills”.

“It was cool man. I mean I’d pinpoint it on my never ending set of talents, but I think you’re a pretty alright teacher” the younger offered with a wide smile.

“Always so humble, this one” his orange haired friend said with a roll of his eyes.

They stretched for a few more minutes, and as Jeongguk was reaching down to grab his bag, there was a knock on the door.

“Hi y’all” said a velvety voice as a tall figure entered the room. The first thing Jeongguk noticed was the pink messy hair, which looked familiar but he couldn’t place. The boy was older than him, he could tell, but his mature facial features were relaxed, which made him look softer and younger.

“Namjoon-ah!” Hoseok greeted him.

“Namjoon-hyung” Jimin smiled.

‘ _Ah so that’s who he is_ ’

“Hi” he said, placing the strap of his bag on one of his shoulders. The tall boy looked at him and offered a smile. “I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Jeon Jeongguk. Nice to meet you, Namjoon-shi”. Jeongguk bowed lightly and the other nodded his head at him.

“Kim Namjoon” he introduced himself. “We’re going to be working together, and I’m gonna see plenty of your face, so just call me hyung anyway.”

“He has no manners so I’ll be surprised if he actually does” Jimin said, reaching for Jeongguk and poking him in the ribs.

“I have a strong politics of not respecting midgets” Jeongguk replied, jumping away and reaching for the door as he saw the rage fill his friend’s eyes and colour his face.

“JEON JEONGGUK YOU BETTER RUN FOR YOUR LIFE” Jimin jumped after him, but Hoseok held him from behind, arms tight around his muscled but small frame.

Namjoon laughed with wide eyes at the situation.

“Wait… wait… shortie jokes… elder disrespect… Jeongguk…” the newcomer was pondering something in his mind, until it struck him, the light of recognition washing over his features. “Aren’t you Yoongi’s flatmate?”

“That’d be me” he nodded.

“He actually just left to your flat. We were at the studio working, but we decided we needed feedback so-”

“Namjoon-ah you can show us now. Jeongguk-ah please leave before Jimin rips my arms off” Hoseok interrupted whining, still straddling a very flustered Jimin.

 “Alright guys, see you around” Jeongguk chuckled as he pushed the door and exited the room, nodding his head lightly to Namjoon, who was walking towards the dancers –currently looking more like wrestlers-.

\-------

Ten minutes later, he was stepping into his flat, welcomed by a very sleepy faced Yoongi.

“I’m going to hibernate” he said as a greeting when he saw him walk in the flat, voice muffled from the cushion under his face. He was lying on the sofa as if he had fallen face-first, which is probably what had happened.

“It’s may” Jeongguk chuckled.

“My life is not ruled by stupid social constructs like months.”

Jeongguk laughed lowly and walked to his room. He got some clean clothes and headed to the shower. He hadn’t realized, but they had danced for almost 3 hours and he felt tired but not worn-out. Physical activities were a favourite of him, the endorphins released afterwards give him a feeling of contempt. Running made him feel free. Sometimes he and Yoongi would go out and play basketball, and he had a blast.

But he had found dancing welcoming, comfortable, gratifying. The accomplishment when he felt his muscles following his commands, the pride of getting the moves right. He knew there also had to be the frustration of getting them wrong no matter how much you practised, but he was too caught up on what he had done right.

As the water falling over his body carried away the sweat, he also felt washed away of a feeling of uneasiness, of regret and shame. He was doing things right this time.

He had gotten into his clothes and walked out of the flat silently, not wanting to wake Yoongi up, because he wouldn’t survive the wrath.

‘ _Honestly, why am I afraid of the shorties’_ he asked himself as he closed the door, rolling his eyes to no one.

\-------

When he entered the coffee shop twenty minutes later, he walked to the room in the back, leaving his stuff and putting on his apron.

“Yo” he said as he stood next to Yugyeom, as a way to say that it was the end of his shift.

“Yo” his tall friend replied, turning to him but not walking away. He stood against the counter in the back, as Jeongguk took his place in front of the ordering area. “How you doing, man? We haven’t hung out in a while.” His friend tall pointed out.

“Maybe if you weren’t so busy making out with BamBam every ten minutes we would have time” Jeongguk joked. He had been the biggest fangirl when he found out his friends had gotten together, but he was not going to let anybody know that.

Yugyeom laughed shamelessly “Can’t help it with that face though” he said solemnly. “Anyway man, what about we go bowling or something?”

“Oh dude-” he remembered then. “Wait, don’t you and Jackson have a dancing crew or something?”

“Yeah man. With Jaebum, Mark, Jongin and Sehun.” He explained. “Sometimes we even have Yixing with us, but he’s too busy working in his dancing academy lately” he pouted. “Dude why? You up to join us?” He wiggled his eyebrows, moving them under his wine red hair.

“I’ve already been trapped” Jeongguk whispered. “Nah, actually, I’m helping Hoseok for a performance thing though”.

“Oh man! No way! Okay, we’re doing a dance off sometime man” he said excitedly.

“Pft, you’ll need a lot of alcohol for that”

“No but honestly, crew versus crew. Oh man I can already feel the Britney Spears vibes in me” he emphasized this with body rolls.

“I’ll text you sometime though, maybe we can grab coffee or something” he said as he picked up a cup from the counter.

Yugyeom stared at him, his pink lips in a straight line and his kind eyes judging him. “That was so funny I forgot to laugh. I’m out” he stood on his feet, looking down on his co-worker both metaphorically and literally.

“We also have a wide range of teas” he said as Yugyeom walked away from him.

\------

He did his shift, the last one of the day, and when it was closing time he and Seokjin cleaned and tidied around. They chatted while putting order in the room, and when they were just about to get done, Seokjin sighed deeply and turned to the black haired boy.

“Are you in a rush, Kookie?” He asked cautiously.

It was Friday. Sometimes when Seokjin was worried or didn’t feel too good about something, he would ask Jeongguk to stay after they had closed on Friday, to have a beer, or soju if the situation required it. That was how they had bonded so quickly. The elder, so motherly and protective, had come to him with his worries and insecurities. Jeongguk wasn’t much of a talker, but he had learned how to listen from Yoongi. Sometimes even he would share a bit of himself with the elder, because he felt comfortable around him, and he knew he wouldn’t judge him. On a few occasions they had been joined by Yoongi and Hoseok, worn out from work.

He turned to face his elder, and thinking that he had readied so much work already, he could give himself a bit of a rest.

“Nah, not really. Beer?” He asked, walking to the fridge behind the counter and opening it.

“Soju” Seokjin answered.

Oh. It was serious then.

He grabbed a bottle of Soju and two small coffee cups _–hey, you work with what you’ve got_ \- and walked to sit next to the elder, who had taken seat in one of the tables at the back. They started chatting animatedly, and Seokjin told him about some _juicy gossip_.

“Oh my god, I totally forgot to tell you” he said, cheeks slightly pink, and plump lips shaping a perfect “o” of surprise, to match his round eyes. “Okay so, you know Kim Minseok-nim, the owner of the caffé” Jeongguk nods. That man trusted Seokjin so much with his caffé, he only ever came around a few times a month, and it felt like Seokjin owned the place, but he had met him when he had been hired.

“Okay so, the other day I had an appointment to meet with my tutor to talk about my thesis and my _practicum_. And so, I’m walking there, and like, I knock on the door right?” he was giggling as he spoke, wide shoulders shaking lighly. “And I’m waiting to be allowed in or whatever, and when I hear ‘ _Come in_ ’, well, I do, but the second I open the door I see my tutor sitting in front of Miseok-nim. So I’m like, supper confused as to who do I greet first, my boss or my professor” Seokjin went on, slightly going off topic to give more intensity to the story “until I look at them and ohmygod THEY WERE HOLDING HANDS” his voice went high-pitched at the end and he looked like a seven year old who had gotten what he wanted for Christmas.

“No way” Jeongguk questioned, taking a shot of soju and leaning forward, his face falling hard onto his hands as he stared intensively, waiting for an answer.

“YES. Ohmygod” the words came out together as one. “So like, I’m there, waiting, and I just bow to my fucking knees,” _‘Okay, he’s drunk’_ Jeongguk thought as soon as he heard the elder swear “and then Lu Han-seonsaeng, my tutor, smiles and apologizes, and Kim Minseok-nim stands up BUT LEANS DOWN TO KISS MY TUTOR AND THEN I JUST STARE AND THEN” he breathes “and THEN OHMYGOD SO MY TUTOR SAYS ‘ _I’ll see you at home’_ ” he makes his voice mellow and sweet “AND I WAS JUST STANDING THERE AND KIM MINSEOK-NIM NODDED AT ME IN HIS WAY OUT AND THEN” he shrieked “and then Lu Han–seonsaeng offers me a chair and we get to work but I couldn’t focus because all I could see was the matching rings he and Kim Minseok-nim wore and I just oh my god.” He finished and breathed properly after the intensity of his monologue, his face flushed and his mouth slightly open.

“No way…” Jeongguk went again.

“YES way.” Seokjin confirmed

“But they can’t be married” the younger pointed out.

“That’s just the paper formalities, they can totally live a married life anyway” the elder clarified, shaking his hand dismissively.

“Waaa…” Jeongguk said, just to fill the silence. It wasn’t often that same-sex couples were that open and free, and even less often in older generations.

After a while of emitting sounds of awe and amazement, Seokjin sighed. Jeongguk then remembered the soju.

“Everythink ok, hyung?” he was ready to take the “hyung” position.

Seokjin made a sound of acknowledgement and shrugged. “Sorta. Kinda…” Jeongguk waited. “I… okay, so, I’ve met someone” the younger fought the will to shriek and jump, because as happy as he was for his friend, he looked down, and his brunette bangs were covering his eyes slightly, but he could still see that he was pouting. He waited, letting his co-worker tidy his thoughts, hazed by alcohol and feelings -‘ _Never a good combination_ ’-.

“Okay so… We’ve been seeing each other for a- Okay not like, _seeing_ each other like dating, just like… we’ve been to the same places… at the same time.”

“It’s okay, I get it. Yeah.” He encouraged him to continue.

“And so, well, he’s just. He’s gorgeous, and witty, and he’s so clumsy _oh my_ he once broke a finger because he was dancing too hard and-” his voice was growing high pitched and soft, and his sentences were filled with giggles “next I see him he just goes like” he lowered his voice “‘ _Our existences are fleeting and seemingly so are our bones_ ’” he chuckled at the end of the sentence. “Granted he was probably high _as fuck_ but, yeah.” He sighed, and continued looking down.

“Nihilist high. I see.” He joked to show he had been paying attention. He knew the other needed reassurance on this to continue, having heard the words ‘ _I don’t want to be a burden_ ’ come out of the elder’s mouth way too many times.

“We get along really well… He makes me feel like a stupid teenager with a stupid crush. But I don’t know about… _us_. There isn’t even an _us._ Like, he’s not into the d. Or so he says but either or I have to respect that… But then he’ll look at me with fond eyes and give me this absolutely _stupid_ grin when he does something dumb and his face looks like he found the solution to world starvation I swear. AND oh _God_ Jeongguk-ah,” he looked at him straight in the eye, intensively “he’s got dimples. When he smiles. _Dim-ples._ YOU KNOW HOW WEAK I AM FOR THE DIMPLES” he whined.

“Uh… I see. Well. You know, sexual orientation is dynamic hyung. One day you can be into the d and the next day you can be into onions” Jeongguk frowned at his own metaphor.

“Don’t bring the poor veggies into this”

“You know what I mean, though”

“Yeah, but… he’s very straight. Honestly” the elder sighed.

“So is spaghetti until you boil it” the younger joked, wiggling his eyebrows. The say sometimes alcohol brings out the worst in people. In this case, it brought _memes_.

“Well I’d love to cook that spaghetti” Seokjin whined, reaching for the almost empty bottle of soju. “And sometimes he looks at me like he wants to be cooked just as much.”

“Hyung pasta doesn’t have eyes” Jeongguk remarked, getting a slap on the arm for a reply. He laughed and added lightly “Seokjin-hyung, you never know. He probably doesn’t even know fully himself. He might be straight for all he knows, but there’s always limit to what we know. So I say we go buy the biggest cooking pan we can find.”

“What if he’s not into me?” Seokjin pouted and frowned, looking like a child.

“Then we take that pan and we make ourselves a nice meal because nothing cures rejection better than food and alcohol” he emphasized the last point reaching for the bottle of soju and chugging the last of it. It wasn’t much –about the equivalent of 3 more shots-, but it made his head spin a little. “Also, I already know that he won’t reject you” he encouraged the other.

“And why would that be?” he inquired.

“Because even if he weren’t into the d, he’d still be into this pretty face of yours” he said, squishing his friend’s face with his hands, and laughing at the expression he was giving him. “A beautiful princess” he added between laugh outbursts. Seokjin joined the younger and laughed loudly, making his face contort further, the sight of which made Jeongguk let go of his face to grab his stomach as he cried in joy.

“When did you become this wise? And this _nice_?” his co-worker asked once the chuckles had died.

“I’m only a bitch from Mondays to Fridays. It may extend to the weekends during exam season but honestly sometimes it’s too hard to hate on everything and everyone full time. I need to rest” he defended himself. “Also alcohol burns most of my filters.”

“Well, Mr. Scheduled-Bitch, thank you for listening to me” he thanked with a smile.

“No need. Don’t tell anyone though. People might want _stuff_ from me” the black haired boy said with fake fear. Seokjin laughed, but then his face went still and his eyes widened.

“OH DEAR I TOTALLY FORGOT TO ASK YOU” he spat, startling Jeongguk, who grabbed onto the table to avoid falling from his chair. “How was dance practice?!” he asked without giving the younger time to comprehend what had just happened. His brain was still amazed at his reflexes for not letting him fall.

“Uh, horrible” he made a very fake face of disgust, and then laughed again. “It was alright, I guess. Hyung, you should join us” Jeongguk suggested.

“Pft, I can’t dance to save my life” the elder retorted.

“That’s why.”

“And he’s back to horrible emo teenager now.” The elder said rolling his eyes. “Which means, it’s time to go home.”

“WAIT WAIT HYUNG. You’re still wearing your apron. That’s beautiful. Wait I need to tweet this” Jeongguk said as he laid towards the elder and gave him his phone to take a picture. Seokjin aligned himself and raised his arm, taking a selca of the two.

“Drunk tweeting at its finest” the younger said as he got his phone back and uploaded the picture on the app, typing with clumsy fingers and unfocused eyesight.

They stumbled as soon as they stood up, the alcohol getting to both of their heads, but once they managed to stand still without needing to support their weight on each other, the two of them cleared the bottle and the used cups, turned off the power, and waved goodbye after locking up.

\--------

Jeongguk didn’t feel time pass on his way home, the whole of the journey a blurry mess. It wasn’t until he fell flat on his bed and fell asleep lying on his belly that he realized the exhaustion of his muscles, pulling him to sleep.

That night he dreamt of a boy running from a stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading, everyone!! And thank you to all you lovelies bookmarking and kudoing this! <3 <3 *heartu*


	5. Friday: Exhaustion (YG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First change of POV~  
> Enter Min Yoongi!

Yoongi was turning on his side, repositioning himself to continue sleeping, when he realized the stiffness of his body. His muscles felt hard and tensed in all the wrong places.

“ _Shit_ ” he grumbled, realizing he was still sleeping on the sofa. He took a deep breath and slowly blinked his eyes open. The room surrounding him was dark and quiet. It was night time, then. Of what day, he couldn’t say. It had been Friday when he had given up to exhaustion and fallen asleep as soon as his body assumed a horizontal position. That much he could recall, but regarding what day it was _currently_ , he had no clue.

Grumbling under his breath, he sat up, and closed his eyes for a second. He almost lost to sleep again and passed out in that position, but he felt his head yank forward and he collected all his might to go to his bed. The couch was a pretty good spot for a nap, he himself had proved that many times, but his body was _aching_ for his bed. He could almost hear it call him. No, he was _certain_ he could hear it.

_Min Yoongi~ Bed awaits you~_

He stood on his feet as steadily as he could manage, and dragged himself towards his bedroom. It was the closest to the living room, and he felt happy Jeongguk’s room was the one at the end of the flat and he didn’t have to go that far. It wasn’t that big of a place, but in this very moment, it made all the difference.

Reaching the door, with eyes more closed than open, he felt around the middle-sided surface until he found the knob. Entering the room and getting to his bed had been an ‘all in’ action in his head, his movements relying solely on muscle memory, for the mint haired boy had not actually woken up, and his brain was already switching to sleep mode before his head even touched the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi! So, here's a short short update because I've been sick > <, but I will update with the next one in just a couple of days to make up for it!  
> thank you for reading everyone, your feedback brings me life and is always appreciated!


	6. Saturday I: Sighting (YG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> real long one (part II coming up right away)...

_…zzzzzzzz…_

_bzzzzzzz…_

_…bbbZZZZZZZZz…_

_…BBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…_

The vibrating finally got to Yoongi, and he blinked fast, trying to think.

 _‘Buzzing’_ he thought as he propped himself slightly on one forearm. He was laying with his front against the mattress, and his free hand started moving, searching for the source of the sound, as recognition came upon him in the shape of a thought: ‘ _Phone’_.

The vibration went on for a few more seconds until he finally set his hand on the device, refusing to open his eyes just yet, and he held it tight, already feeling the effort and the annoyance that would come if he dropped it trying to get it close to his face.

With his thumb ready to motion the alarm to turn off, he saw that the swiping motion was instead accepting an incoming call: ‘ _Kim Namjoon (_ _랩몬_ _)_ ’. He panicked a little, his brain still not fully functioning, because he had picked up a call he did not mean to answer and now he felt annoyed at himself.

‘ _Too late now_ ’ he thought grumbling, as he coughed and placed the device against his ear, making a deep noise for a greeting.

“Yoongi-hyung?” the low, velvety voice said. A long groan did the confirmation.

“I’ve been texting you, hyung. We are supposed to meet at the studio after lunch, remember?” Yoongi processed slowly the younger’s words. They said they’d meet after he had finished some of the duties that came with his scholarship -being that ordering papers and filing documents- yeah, but it wasn’t lunch time yet. He hadn’t slept all through the morning. That couldn’t have happened. _No way_.

“’time is it?” he asked, voice thick with sleep. He could have checked his phone for the time, but God forbid he got any light in his eyes right now, his vision still adjusted to the darkness.

“Twelve” Namjoon answered quickly.

“Later then.” The elder’s words, short and muffled again against the pillow were the last thing that went through the line, as he hang up and turned around, closing his eyes again.

Aware that he _could_ potentially still fall back asleep, and being that the most appealing option on the table –or the bed- he had to fight his own will, and decide that maybe it was time he actually woke up.

So it was a Saturday, because Saturday was the day he and Namjoon had said to meet before lunch. Well at least he now knew that he had only slept through one morning, and not a day and a morning, which could have ( _had_ ) happened ( _more than once_ ). With a loud sigh, he got up from his bed, and walked to the kitchen. He set the kettle on and greeted a very dishevelled looking Jeongguk.

“Ayo” his voice was still deep and thick, his vocal cords not quite awake yet.

“Morning, hyung” the younger replied with emotionless voice.

 “Whaddup, brat-” he walked towards the younger, who was sitting in front of the coffee table, legs crossed on the floor and papers and books all around him “-Jesus, what are you even doing” he said as he looked at the mess, looking over his roommate’s shoulder down to the mess of notes and post-its.

“Some very _not fucking_ funny professor e-mailed us this morning to _remind_ us of a project he had NOT even told us to do in the first place. So here I am. Buried in this pile of _shitcrap_. Dead inside.” His voice was low but harsh now. Yoongi felt the anger is the younger’s voice, and he pat his head. He didn’t want Jeongguk to feel like he was belittling him –he was already on the verge of murder, and as much of a fan of sleep Yoongi was, he wasn’t _that_ keen on dying young-, but he knew how much it relaxed the raven haired boy, so he did so a few times, trying to calm his wrath.

“S’okay Kookie. You’ll pull through” he comforted him. “Or you can, I don’t know, burst his tires in vengeance of something. Burn some shit. That always looks cool” he joked, sleep still present on his syllables.

“I know I’ll do. I just want to punch something- yeah, maybe I’ll burn some shit”

He moved from behind the younger to the kitchen “You should. Coffee?” he asked as he reached for his mug.

“Please”

He prepared two cups, and when he finished he took one in each hand, handing it to the younger as he sat on the couch.

“Thanks. I’m probably gonna be stuck here for the rest of the day. Or my life, if I end up dying on caffeine overdose.”

“Shit man. I’m going to the studio and I might come back late. If you die make sure your corpse is disposed before I get here because, dude, I don’t want my house smelling like actual death.”

“I’ll make sure to call the emergencies as soon as I go into cardiac arrest”

He pat the younger on the shoulder “Thanks buddy. ‘Preciate it”

He drank his coffee in silence, and when he was done and he felt his muscles could actually support his body, he headed to the shower and got ready to leave. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was just ten to one, but he decided to head to the studio and wait for Namjoon there. He grabbed his camera, thinking that he could kill some time snapping shots like he had done many times before. He left the younger on the same position he had found him when he had first walked into the living room.

\-------

Yoongi liked looking at his surroundings. He appreciated the aesthetic in buildings, or the way colours would blend into each other in the horizon during the early mornings and late evenings. Of course, close to 1pm is not the time for either of those skies to be showing, but it was a sunny day and the light made everything look more alive. The mint haired boy liked to joke about how he felt a _little less dead inside_ looking at pretty things –also he had a soft spot for cute fluffy things, but that was something only he and his beloved pet Min Holly were to know-, so he walked to the studio, looking for the beauty around campus and crossing the wide paths and the open roads that guided the human traffic through the multiple buildings.

He was trying to capture how the wind made the leaves of a particularly green tree dance, when a blur of orange broke the composition of his picture. He pulled the camera away from his face, trying to change the angle of the picture and hence avoid the intrusion of colour, but as he was moving, he eyed the unknown speck of tangerine.

And Yoongi liked beauty. He enjoyed the aesthetic in the world. He appreciated the dispositions of colours, shapes and lights that composed his surroundings. But he would have never thought that just the sight of a smile could make his heart skip. And so it did; he felt the light flutter in his chest as he gripped the device and pulled it up to his face, changing the focus from the tree to the young boy laughing excitedly along a taller male. His laugh was obnoxious and he pushed his head back, body swinging and searching for air, his hair a mess around his round features.

_Snap_

The taller male contorted his strong features into a grimace, and the shorter one slapped him lightly on the arm, smile wide and taking all of his face, his eyes almost closed in thin crescents, and lips stretched into a gorgeous grin.

_Snap_

Yoongi continued observing, changing slightly the focus as he moved closer but keeping his distance, wishing he had brought his zoom lens with him, instead of his trusted and beloved 50mm. He wasn’t expecting to need it, of course, so he had gone with the standard, but now he wished he hadn’t. He wanted to zoom in further into the soft features of the boy, but he knew he’d regret lowering the quality of the picture later. Min Yoongi was known, after all, for his perfectionism. The chatting friends were still talking, and the orange haired male covered his face with his hand while laughing, not really meaning to cover his mouth, more seemingly to be just a mannerism of his. His hand was engulfed in the sleeves of his loose sweater, and he giggled.

_Snap_

‘ _Cute’_ , Yoongi thought as he fumbled with the focus again.

All of a sudden, the boy straightened up and shook his head, signalling for his friend to hold his bag. Yoongi wasn’t ready for what followed. Focus took over the boy’s face, his before soft looking features turning severe and hypnotizing, and he did a small jump, opening both his legs at a time and then stopping in place, only to continue his movements swinging side to side and slowly lowering his torso whilst bending his knees. Fixing his posture in the final and lowest position, he signalled his friend to look at his legs, his hand following the angle in which his hips bent, and then emphasising his lower back straight posture. Yoongi followed the hand movements with his eyes, mouth agape and camera long forgotten in his grip. He felt the side of his mouth tug to the side as a small grin took over his face the moment his eyes fell in the boy’s behind, the angle of his position making it easy to appreciate despite his large sweater.

‘ _Nice_ …’

Yoongi was starting to close his mouth when his phone vibrated, waking him up from his trance of staring at the male. He blinked twice and snapped his lips together; eyes not moving away from the boys as the taller one reproduced the other’s moves slowly, making questioning gestures at every move. Yoongi pulled the device to his face absentmindedly, sweeping across the screen with his thumb to pick up the call.

“Hello?”

“Yoongi-hyung, are you in the studio?” a deep, velvety voice asked.

“Good morning to you too, Namjoon-ah. Nope, not yet, I’m on my way though” he replied, as he stole one last glance at the boys, and turned on his heels in the direction of the studio.

“Some of us have been awake for more than an hour, hyung. I don’t think 1pm is to be considered morning anymore” the younger pointed out.

“Brat. What did you need anyway?” They had arranged to meet –Yoongi checked his phone-, only 5 minutes ago, it’s not like he was extremely late or anything. He heard Namjoon hesitate over the line.

“I… well, the door isn’t opening so I was wondering if maybe you were in and had locked it” he said, sounding nervous.

“Namjoon did you break the door” Yoongi stated, not really asking.

“No, I didn’t! Maybe. I’m not sure?” The younger’s voice sounded strangled.

“Hold on, God Of Destruction, I’m almost there”

“Thanks, hyung” he replied, voice sounding slightly ashamed.

With a sigh, Yoongi hung up and entered the building where the recording rooms were. A few minutes later, he was already in front of Namjoon and the problematic door.

“Whaddup” he greeted.

“Hi, hyung, I’m sorry-” he turned to look at his elder “oh my god please tell me you didn’t run here, I’d feel too bad.”

Run? Min Yoongi? This situation definitely wasn’t one worthy of his physical exhaustion; he had not run there. Why did Namjoon think he had? He checked his face in the small window placed in the door of the studio, making sure his hair was in place and- hold on. The colour in his cheeks caught his eye. But he hadn’t run. And it wasn’t that cold, nor that hot outside. The slight pink was quickly fading, and Yoongi couldn’t make up the reason why it had been there in the first place.

“Eh… nah, no worries. Let me see” he requested, slightly pushing Namjoon aside and standing in front of the door. He fumbled with the handle, trying to open, but it just moved loosely, hinges not turning an inch. “Mh…” He tried pulling the door towards himself, and then he moved the key little by little, coordinating movements and trying to get the combination of pressure he needed to- _click_. There. “This door definitely needs fixing, but we can report it when we leave” he opened the door, and stepped inside, leaving an open mothed Namjoon at the door.

“How did… I thought I broke it” he half-whispered, walking in and looking at the door with disbelief.

“It’s been like that for a while, you just need to know how to work it. I’m just glad you didn’t go too hard on it and broke it completely” Yoongi moved towards the mixing board, and dropped his bag on the floor, turning the machinery on. He sat on the uncomfortable chair that still managed to feel like home to him.

“I’m gonna try not getting offended at that, okay?” He sat next to Yoongi and pulled out a notebook and a few pens and papers. The older knew the younger rapper had a habit of writing lyrics in any valid surface when inspiration struck him.

“Do as you please, my friend”.

“So, remember how I told you the beat didn’t really flow smoothly?” Namjoon asked, his tone suddenly more serious and voice deeper. Yoongi and Hoseok liked to call that his ‘ _business voice_ ’, as he only used it when he meant business. Yoongi nodded. They’d been stuck on _something_ not feeling right, and the pink haired genius figured it out with a clap of his hands and a wide smile. “Well, I was messing around a little bit, and I think I’ve got something to make it work without having to discard it all.” The younger sounded very excited, and Yoongi just waited to be shown the new idea.

Namjoon pulled out his phone, and looked for the song in his phone, pressing here and there. The track started to play, but just a few seconds in, the harmony of notes was changed with a sudden drop of the base, the sound lowering and raising on a 4/4 beat. It turned the song much more dynamic and made the base work again in the singular high-low cycle. The elder smiled, and patted the younger on his shoulder.

“That’s more like it” he encouraged him.

“Right? I thought so…” his smile was wide and he looked like a child playing with his new favourite toy.

The mint haired male plugged his pen-drive in, and started opening the files to the song. They had the arrangement, now they had to produce it with the proper tools and the most accurate sounds. “I still don’t get why you’re not majoring in Music” he said, as he waited for the program to load. There was a chuckle from the younger male, and he turned to look at him, rising an eyebrow.

“I’m already doing a double major, no thank you. Plus, I really enjoy Languages. And Sociology. People need to communicate with one another. We live in dependency of each other and we need to know how to live in community. Music is just… another language for me. It’s just another code, if you know what I mean” he scratched the back of his head, his voice sounding steady but his ways showing slight awkwardness. “Music is a passion and I like living it like this, to be honest. Maybe in the future I’ll do something academic about it, but right now I like to live it, not to learn it”. He sounded like he had given the issue a great load of thought, so Yoongi did not press him any further, seeing as the younger male was fully sure about his life decisions.

If only he had been as sure when he picked his major; he knew that music was what he wanted to dedicate his life to, but it had definitely been a spur of the moment type of action when he signed up to major in Music, picking up his photography minor a year later. He knew his parents didn’t approve of his choices, being the music and entertainment world one that wasn’t “ _steady enough_ ” for him to build a future and a family, but he thought “ _fuck it_ ”, and followed his gut. He didn’t care about the future, he wanted to enjoy his present, because every tomorrow eventually turns into a today. He respected and understood the younger’s mind-set.

Making a noise of understanding, he turned to the board and set himself to work alongside his multi-talented friend. He thought about how he and Jeongguk would get greatly along, with such similar ways of thinking, and multiple abilities.

After some time of working and much pondering about the new results, the younger broke the silence. “Okay we need to show this to Hoseok. I can’t wait, he needs to tell us if we’re taking the song in the right direction” Namjoon stood up from his seat, sounding extremely excited. If he had been jumping, he would have looked like a puppy asking to be taken on a walk.

“I agree” Yoongi replied with a grin, turning off the machinery; he was very pleased with the change in the song and he wanted to show the dancer soon. He had been working with him for so long, he already knew the sudden change of beats were a favourite of his dongsaeng, his edgy dance movements falling perfectly to his changes in the beat, so he knew the song just overflowed ‘ _J-hopeness’_.

They picked their stuff and headed to the dance studios, not far from where the production studios were located. There might have been broken doors but the logistic in the space distribution of the place was unquestionable.

\---------

When they reached the corridor where the dance rooms were located, the older male recognised the muscle built black crowned figure approaching in their direction.

“Yo, Jeongguk-ah!” he called. The younger looked up from his phone, the sound of his name and the familiar voice making him look ahead.

“Yoongi-hyung” he spoke. “Oh, Namjoon-shi, hello” he added when he recognised the taller of the pair, bowing lightly with his head.

“Jeongguk-shi” the older greeted back, bowing slightly aswell.

“Oh, you two know each other?” Yoongi asked. He didn’t recall if they had met.

“Briefly. I met him yesterday when I came to show Hoseok the track and you bailed on me” the tallest of them answered.

“You can’t trust a midget” Jeongguk whispered to Namjoon, but still audibly enough for his roommate to hear. The eldest of the trio suddenly lost all interest in whether his two young friends would get along or not, already feeling the conspiracy against him said frenship would result upon.

“I’m going to hide your Iron Man movie collection” Yoongi threatened, voice weary. The younger’s face was taken over by shook and fear.

“Aaaaanyway,” Namjoon continued after chuckling, “We were just going to show Hoseok a few changes we’ve made into the song.”

“Didn’t you do that yesterday?” the maknae asked.

“Grown ups work every day, Jeongguk-ah.”

“Yes,” Namjoon continued, ignoring the elder’s comment, “but something wasn’t really working. Jimin and Hoseok were trying to make the dance moves fit better into the beat, when really it should be us working to make the beat adapt to them.”

“You sound so solemn, Namjoon-ah.”

“True words of wisdom” the younger followed on the joke. Namjoon scratched his head and laughed lowly.

“I know how important this is for Hoseok, and I compromised so I gotta give my all” he stated firmly, his face showing a soft smile.

The mint haired rapper wiped an invisible tear and sighed theatrically. Jeongguk placed his hand on his chest, nodding slowly with eyes closed, pretending to be engulfed in feelings.

“You guys are like the devil and his apprentice” Namjoon accused the roomates. Making both of them chuckle and nod proudly. He rolled his eyes at the other’s antiques, and remembered they were there for a reason. “Well, we should get to our dance master and show him the track upgrade, shouldn’t we?” His elder nodded, and turned to the raven haired boy, noticing he was carrying his bag with him.

“You leaving?” he inquired.

“Yeah, we’re done for today. Jimin and Hoseok-hyung are still in there, polishing a few moves, so you’ll find them in the studio. I need some rest, I’m surprised I didn’t pass out back there. Dancing with a hangover is the worst thing you can do. Honestly, Seokjin-hyung should have been here suffering with me.”

“But Seokjin-hyung can’t dance” Namjoon answered while laughing.

“Wait, you know Seokjin-hyung?” Yoongi questioned. “I need an update on who knows who.” Namjoon chuckled, and Jeongguk snorted.

“Well this is honestly a mind-blowing conversation but I’m gonna get going. Maybe I should have just ditched practice like a certain blondie” he said with a low grumble, the humor in his voice dying. Yoongi looked at him with questioning eyes, whilst Namjoon frowned at him, lips pressed in a line as if pondering whether or not to say something. Jeongguk ignored their faces and took a deep breath. “See you around guys”, he said, waving his free hand and moving away from them.

Namjoon’s expression stayed on his face as they approached the room. Yoongi looked at him and wondered what had happened there. Did he miss something? With the unknown acquaintances that seemed to have risen in the past days, and the sudden mood swing in the conversation, he felt very lost. He didn’t know if he should pry, and he was trying to make up whether or not he should when they reached the studio, and walked in, greeting the two dancers present in the room.

The first thing that Yoongi noticed was the boy sitting on the floor, legs spread wide open and stretching, his body laying almost fully over his right leg, and his head topped with orange hair resting on his knee.

Time seemed to stop for a second, but not like in romances when the main character feels every cell of their body being ripped and pushed towards this new person in their life. No, it was more like, he blinked, and all he could see was orange, and the next second his was being crashed by a force from an unknown source.

“Hyung!” the loud greeting rang by his ear, snapping him back into reality as he tried to get some air back into his lungs, shaken by the sudden embrace.

“Hobi, get off, you’re sweating” he pushed the dancer off him, a mock of fake disgust pulling down the side of his mouth.

“Namjoon-aaah!” said dancer jumped off him and onto his companion.

“Hoseok-aaaah!” the rapper mimicked.

“Aaaaah” Yoongi copied the other two in the same tone, rolling his eyes at their ministrations. A high pitched voice spoke softly, making Yoongi turn his head almost with a snap.

“Namjoon-hyung, how are you?” he bowed lightly. The elder replied but Yoongi didn’t register the words, slightly distracted by the trails of sweat going down the dancer’s neck, his orange hair pushed back from his face, framing his soft features nicely. The rapper blinked and remembered the same boy, a few hours earlier, moving his body with grace and a mesmerising expression plastered on his face. He could see his well-built figure, the muscles of his arms on display due to the loose tank top he was wearing, and if it wasn’t for the sweet look of his smile, or his kind expression, he would have not believed the owner of such a rocking body to be the same boy who had been laughing and whipping his head back while covering his mouth with his sweater paws.

The boy turned to him and bowed, smiling softly and introducing himself. Yoongi tried to recover quickly so he could catch the boy’s name –not that he couldn’t ask either of the other two rappers later if he needed to, but he’d rather not-, catching up at the end of the sentence.

“….you. I’m Park Jimin”

“Min Yoongi. Nice to meet-” the elder was bowing his head slightly, but then stopped abruptly mid-sentence “oh, shit, you’re _the_ Park Jimin?” The aforementioned gave him a questioning look but nodded unsurely, and all Yoongi could think about was about how many times he had heard that name before during the previous days. That name, and the world “diarrhea” in the same sentence. He burst into a loud series of cackles before he could stop himself.

“The fuck” Namjoon said in a monotonous tone.

“Jiminie I think you broke him” Hoseok whispered, looking surprised.

“Yoongi-shi, are you okay?” the tangerine haired boy looked at him perplexed, lips slightly pouted and his face showing how lost he was, but the other couldn’t stop laughing. It was childish how much he was laughing over something so mundane, he wasn’t five, for speaking out loud. Everybody shits, some more metaphorically than others, but everyone non the less. Why he couldn’t stop laughing was beyond him.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “Ah, shit” he chucked again. _‘Bad wording_ ’. “Sorry, man”. He looked at the boy, and tried to keep his composure, but fearing he might lose it again, he opted to look at Hoseok instead, who was grinning at him.

“Hyung you’re all red in the face. Have you got the hots for our Jiminnie?” he asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

Nope, bad move. Not Hoseok. Fuck Hoseok.

He tried to keep a straight face and looked at Namjoon instead, hoping for some sense to be put into the situation –never mind it being him who had caused havoc with his laughing fit, that was just a mere irrelevant detail-. The taller male just looked back at him, and then at Hoseok, and then at Jimin.

Why did Yoongi ever think Namjoon was going to save the situation?

He grumbled, and looked back at the dancers, trying to avoid looking at Jimin as much as he could while trying to not seem rude, but judging by the younger’s wary expression, he wasn’t doing very well. Well, he’d care about making a good impression on the younger maybe another time; when he could look at him without seeing the word “diarrhea” plastered on his forehead.

_‘Damn you Jeon Jeongguk’_

“We brought changes” he spoke shortly, “Joon-ah, show them”.

“Ah, yeah” Namjoon blinked and seemed to recover his senses. “Yeah, of course,” he moved past them and went ahead to the speakers, where Hoseok’s laptop was plugged in “so, we like, managed to fix what wasn’t working. Basically we changed the dynamic of the base by adding a hook into it, so it sounds like the beat comes up with more strength. It was sounding kind of plain before but…” he trailed off, as he opened the file. He had plugged the USB into the computer while he had been explaining, and he double clicked the file to open. A few seconds later, the song started filling the room, and Hoseok and Jimin made their way to the computer. Yoongi trailed after them, making sure the door was properly closed, and listened carefully to their production.

Hoseok and Jimin looked at each other, and started doing little steps to the music, communicating thought dancing instead of words. They seemed to understand each other, and as soon as the song finished, they smiled with glee.

“It flows much better with the moves, guys. You are truly amazing” Hoseok beamed, happy that the routine he was working so hard on fit so well with the beat. “I think we can change the pace now into what you suggested” he said looking at Jimin.

“I don’t think Kookie’s gonna be very happy about that” the younger laughed.

“Is he ever happy about anything?” Yoongi remarked, making the other laugh again. He smiled in return. “He’s the eincarnation of ‘ _mum, emo is not a phase_ ’”. Jimin threw his head back and laughed loudly, throwing his body into Hoseok, who was right by his side. His smile stretched wide and Yoongi appreciated the sight of it from up close. It had been something from far away, but seeing it from in shorter distance was much better. Yoongi picked on how the dancer’s eyes became thinner as his smile grew wider, and how he seemed to have a knack for wetting his lips after smiling, as if trying to hold it in like that.

“That’s exactly what I told him!” Jimin spoke, his smile distorting the words around the edges. “He just has to be ‘emoboi’ on stage”.

“We can work on that”.

“I bet you not” Hoseok challenged.

“Place your bet, Jung Hoseok” Yoongi smirked.

“You know the drill, Min Yoongi. A bottle of soju”

“And then you try to convince Seokjin you’re not an alcoholic” Namjoon retorted looking at the mint haired man.

“And how exactly do you happen to know what Seokjin and I discuss?” Yoongi said, exaggerating his tone to make it as suggesting as possible. Namjoon’s eyes widened slightly and he looked down for a second, his mouth slightly agape as if he was trying to speak.

‘ _Now, that’s interesting_ ’.

“So, I say you can’t make Jeongguk take that as his stage name” Hoseok affirmed.

“I say I do” Yoongi stated, bringing his hand forward and offering it to the dancer, who took it with a smile and shook it firmly.

“I’m with him” Jimin said, pointing at the shorter rapper.

“I feel like the cosmos calls for me to make this balanced, so I’m with him” Namjoon said, placing his hand on Hoseok’s shoulder.

“Good then. The more, the merrier. And by merrier I mean more booze”, Yoongi smiled, and sighed with contempt. Free alcohol was always a thing to look forward to. “Anyway guys, we’ll leave you to it then.”

“Yeah, thanks man. You guys are geniouses” Hoseok sing-sung, giving them a blinding smile. He was standing up straight but the energy conveyed in his words and the light in his expression made it look like he was bouncing all over the place. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t have been an odd behaviour on the dancer at all.

“Yeah, we’ll work hard. Thank you so much!” Jimin echoed.

“I’ve copied the song onto the desk so you can just play it from there. See you guys later, yeah?” he turned to Hoseok “I’ll see you at dorm.”

“Yas, now, leave leave” the dancer moved his hands towards them, as if brushing them out of the door.

“Byee Namjoon-hyuung” Jimin said as they reached the door, “bye Yoongi-shi. It was nice to meet you!”

Yoongi turned around and looked at the smiling boy, winking at him with a soft smile “Likewise”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you're enjoying! <3 thank you so so much *kissu*


	7. Saturday II: Connection (YG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: SNS overload

Yoongi waved Namjoon goodbye when they reached the door of the building, as they were heading in different directions, and started walking to his apartment. He pulled out his phone and started texting Jeongguk, remembering how the younger was probably forgetting to feed himself, and as a good hyung, it was his duty to provide his dongsaeng with food, as he couldn’t simply nurture off text books. Also, he fancied some noodles.

Once in the convenient store, he picked up a couple of noodle boxes, getting spicy ones for Jeongguk as he knew he was keen on those. On his way to check out, he crossed the sweets aisle and grabbed a box of orange-flavoured rice cakes, because he felt like so.

‘ _Treat yo’self_ ’

He put all the purchased items into his bag, placing them carefully so they didn’t crash with his camera. He looked at it thoughtfully, remembering the pictures he had taken earlier that day. He snickered to himself, thinking about how a certain small dancer had been pretty much the (orange) highlight of his day. He made a mental note to pass all the pictures onto his computer later, and walked the few streets that separated the store he was in from the building where his flat was.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and seeing that it was Jeongguk who had messaged him, he felt almost obliged to not reply to the text, being literally seconds away from seeing the younger, but he did so as he waited for the elevator. Before he could put the device back in his pocket, the other had already replied, and a grey bubble appeared, showing Yoongi that he was still typing.

He pressed “Send” on the last message as he opened the door to the flat, his eyes landing on a mess of books and notes, surrounding a very disgruntled looking Jeon Jeongguk.

“Hyuuuuung” he grumbled, almost whining.

“Set the table while I prepare the ramen” he spoke as a greeting.

“More like set the table while I put water to boil” he complained, but started to clear up the table from the papers, stacking them on a side untidily.

“More like shut up I brought you food”.

“And for that I owe you, hyung”.

“Yes you do. Keep that in mind” Yoongi muttered cryptically.

‘ _One step ahead of you, Hoseok_ ’.

Once the table was set and the water had boiled, they sat on the table together and waited for the pasta to cook. Yoongi took in the tiredness showing in the younger’s face.

“Should I make that call to emergencies?”

“Do you ever get tired of being so funny?” Jeongguk rolled his eyes tiredly. “I think my brain has melted.”

“Not that hard” Yoongi said, taking the lid of his and the younger’s noodles. “There”.

“Thanks. I honestly just wanna get done with this soon.” he slurped the first scoop of noodles into his mouth, and made a soft noise of joy. After inhaling–more than eating- the slimy food for a few minutes, he spoke again. “Oh, how was the visit to the studio? What did they think of the song?” he asked curiosly.

“Hoseok seemed very pleased with it, but, it’s Hoseok. Can you ever make that man unhappy?” Yoongi smiled shaking his head slowly. “Ah, also, seems like the dance will have a bit of a change though”, he remembered about ‘Jimin’s suggestion to the dance’.

He heard the younger moan lowly before he put his head on top of his arms. “Whaaaaaaaat, why? It was Jimin’s fault, wasn’t it? I’m gonna kill him. I ain’t got time for this shit”.

The elder laughed without adding anymore.

“So you’ve met Jimin then?” Jeongguk looked like he was going to have to play the which-of-your-friends-know-which game too. The rapper replied with a nod, and filled his mouth with a scoop of noddles. The younger waited, as if expecting for information on how that had gone down. The rapper took his time to munch and swallow.

“I saw him and all I could think about was how you had to cover for him ‘cause of his gastro. I literally laughed my ass off in front of the poor kid. You’re the evil in this world, Jeon Jeongguk.”

Said boy looked at him with wide eyes and mouth agape, silent until he shrieked and lost it, almost crying with how much he was laughing.

“You did _not_?!” he shouted, slapping the table with a hand as he kept laughing loudly between words. He breathed deeply and looked at Yoongi intently. “Wow, that’s amazing. Okay then. No need to get back at him then” he smiled and put his hands together, closing his eyes and speaking softly “Thank you, Karma”.

Yoongi stared at him, eyebrows wrinkled, not understanding a word of what was coming out of his dongsaeng’s mouth. Sometimes he felt like they truly spoke complete different languages. He saw the younger giggling and putting out his phone, opening twitter and taking a selca, holding his cup of ramen next to his face.

“Is anyone really that interested on what you’re eating?”

“Some are” he said as he shrugged his shoulders, typing before pressing _tweet_. The elder felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he took it out to see a notification from twitter. His flatmate had mentioned him in his tweet, so he opened it to see. It was the selca, and there was nothing else special about it.

“Brat, you’re so full of yourself” he said, more like a statement than like an insult. He taped on the picture to see the embedded text.

His phone buzzed again, and he saw he had been mentioned again, but now by a different account, in response to the previous tweet. He opened it before replying to Jeongguk’s, and heard the younger snicker. He looked up to him, question in his eyes, but the other was looking at his phone with a smile on his lips while he finished his food absentmindedly.

Yoongi read the tweet and then the at the owner’s name. Not sure if _Jiminnie_ was Park Jimin, he looked at the avatar of the account, and smirked as he saw the younger’s picture. His face was mostly covered by a pair of huge sunglasses, but his orange hair and his pouty lips were enough to recognise him. Those had been the boy’s had trademarks that day, after all.

“Kook-ah, you’re being bullied by a midget. Stand your ground, dude” Yoongi laughed at his flatmate, but the younger was typing eagerly, probably sending some sort of sassy reply to Jimin’s tweet. The elder stood up and went to grab the rice cakes from the fridge, where he had left them earlier. His phone vibrated, probably from Jeongguk’s and Jimin’s little fight on twitter. He sat back down, now with the box of small round cakes, and offered them to the younger, while he pulled out his phone and checked the notifications, snickering at the fight going on. He went to grab a rice cake, but waited for Jeongguk to pass the box to him, as he had just reached for them.

Right after the younger gave them back –packet unopened and sweets untouched, strangely enough-, he opened it and put one in his mouth, enjoying the taste of it. Yoongi wasn’t very fond of sweet things, but the orange made the little cakes balance on sweetness and he was rather enjoying it melting on his tongue. He was relinquishing on the taste when a new notification popped on his screen. Another tweet from Jeongguk, but not a reply to the previous ones anymore.

Yoongi laughed out loud when he saw what the younger had done, understanding now why the packed of cakes had returned untouched, and looked up at his flatmate to see him smiling proudly. He looked down at the tweet, and laughed again, as he couldn’t help but agree to the statement.

Yoongi waited, putting another cake into his mouth, biting it slowly, and a few seconds later came the next reply.

 

“You’ve lost, kid” Yoongi said, laughing loudly at the string of tweets.

“Park Jimin is a filthy cheater. You can’t just bring mum into it like that!” Jeongguk complained frustrated and huffing.

“Sometimes I wonder if it should be weird how you all think of Seokjin as your mom”. Yoongi stretched and started picking up the bowls of ramen and the box of rice cakes, standing up and carrying them to the kitchen.

“These things just happen. It’s meant to be.” The younger yawned loudly, and the rapper took a breath to suggest for him to go rest soon, figuring how tired his flatmate must have been. “Don’t worry about it, you have your place in this family too, grampa” he added with a smile, and suddenly Yoongi thought that Jeongguk should stay up all night.

“I’m off, kid. I’ll see you in the morning” he said as he walked to his bedroom. There was a strong pull asking for him to go and throw a pillow to the younger’s black head, but the pull to his bed was much stronger.

“See ya, hyung” he heard before he closed his bedroom door. He walked to his desktop and placed his camera and his bag on it, pulling out the memory card and leaving it on his laptop as a reminder for tomorrow to pass the pictures onto the computer, and started getting ready for bed.

He didn’t take long, and soon after he had traded his ripped skinny jeans and hoodie for a loose tracksuit bottom and cotton jersey, teeth brushed and face washed. He liked to sleep comfortably and warmly, so he slid into his bed, enjoying the feel of his bed sheets. He picked up his phone one last time to set his alarm for the morning, and noticed the notification on screen he hadn’t realized getting.

“ ** _Jiminnie_** _is now following you_ ”.

And he fell asleep, with a smirk on his lips and a new twitter follower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come shout at me at the comments  
> xx


	8. Sunday: Cookery (NJ)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Kim Namjoon's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm weak to domestic bye)

Namjoon stacked up the last pile of papers he had gone through that morning, and put them in a folder where they belonged. He sighed loudly and stretched his arms, hitting his hand with the side of the table as he dropped back down his arms heavily. He didn’t react much to the pain, though, used to hitting himself with things more frequently than not. He picked up his stuff and left the room, waving goodbye to no one, as he usually went in at times when no other students would. When he had accepted the scholarship for university, he had been told he would have to collaborate with paperwork and other basic tasks, and he really hadn’t minded much. It was a constant, stable type of work, one that allowed him to move mechanically and think for a few hours. Also, he had met some people there, some who had become his close friends.

_He remembers the first time he bumped into Jackson. Initially, he looked reserved, shy, as if afraid to talk to people. That lasted for about two weeks, until one day Namjoon tripped and fell on his face, causing Jackson to stand up from his seat in a rush, face worried and hands searching for any irreparable harm in the other’s body._

_“Dude are you okay?!” he shrieked loudly._

_“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, this is a daily event” Namjoon reassured him, grabbing the hand the other had offered and standing up, looking down at the smaller male and smiling. He whipped his hands on his jeans, looking for any major harm, but everything seemed to be and feel in place._

_At that, the shorter male started laughing with glee, his voice high and his smile wide. “_ A daily event _” he quoted, while he clapped his hands, obviously amused._

_“Yeah, man. I’m Namjoon, by the way” he offered his hand to shake._

_“Nice to meet you, Namjoon!” he shook his hand energetically. “I’m Jackson!” Namjoon nodded and smiled. “I’m from China, but I’ve lived in Korea for a few years already. I hope we can become friends” he sang happily. The boy was seemingly a ball of energy now that he was talking, his smile never faltering._

_“That’s so cool! I don’t know any Chinese, I tried learning but I can’t put myself past Japanese and English” Namjoon admitted. He had learned English mostly by himself, and had tried doing so with other languages, but he hadn’t gotten so far yet, although his Japanese was more than acceptable, but he strived for more._

_“_ NO WAY. REALLY? _” Jackson spoke, his English drowned in a strong American accent. Namjoon smiled widely at the turn of events, dimples showing._

 _“_ You speak English too? _” He replied, a southern English accent strongly adorning to his syllables._

 _“_ YAAAAAAS” _Jackson screamed, jumping up and down, and laughing non-stop. Namjoon felt his glee; ever since he had learned and gained confidence in his English, he hadn’t been able to talk to anyone fluently. He and Hoseok had a recurring joke, when the other rapper would say, in broken English “_ English time, now, only English” _, but as much as it was fun, it didn’t count much as a conversation._

 _“_ Well, we’re officially friends. Fuck getting to know each other _” Namjoon said in English again, and then suggested going for a coffee after their duties were finished. They talked, and actually realized how much they had in common, and how comfortable they were around each other. Jackson wasn’t shy anymore, and when Namjoon saw him interact with his friends, he saw that he wasn’t a quiet person_ at all _. He understood then just how much Jackson had been afraid of making a bad impression on him and the rest of the students they were in contact with, and in that second he decided he would try to always make people comfortable with their environment; he wasn’t the most confident person himself, but he was going to try. People as bright as Jackson should never be forced to keep their joy in themselves._

Walking out of the room as he remembered how he met Jackson and what the boy was like, his thoughts led him to think about Taehyung. He had met the younger a couple of years back, at the end of high school, and he had assumed a very protective manner towards him ever since. Not overprotective, just very brotherly. Taehyung was someone who needed someone to confide in, to trust and talk without fear of being judged, and until Jimin, Namjoon had been that person. But he also needed someone to keep him on the ground, to remind him that not everyone was as nice and deserving of trust as he thought they were; someone to protect him from the bad things that the boy seemed to just _not see_. He thought about how much Jackson and Taehyung resembled each other; overworking personalities, overachievers, people liked by everybody –or _mostly_ everybody, who were scared of social rejection but were extremely extroverted, people who you could _hear_ before you would _see_ , loud and energetic.

He smiled, thinking distractively, and bumped into someone without realizing.

“ _Shit_ I’m so sorry!” he stuttered, moving his feet, trying not to fall, and reached for the body in front of his to hold them on their feel, as he had felt it bounce off after crashing onto him.

“Hyung! Tae!” Are you guys okay?” A familiar soft voice spoke.

“Tae?” he looked to the shoulders connected to his hands, and found Taehyung –when had he become so broad?- covering his nose with his hands, his eyes closed. “Tae are you okay? I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking” Namjoon said, placing his hands on the younger’s arms.

“Hyung you’re so clumsy!” Taehyung complained, whining exaggeratedly.

“Tae you literally ran into him! Don’t put all the blame on Namjoon-hyung” Jimin said, patting his head with the expression of an exasperated loving parent.

“Hi, Jimin” they exchanged a smile, and he looked at Taehyung again, stepping back to look at both of them. “Where are you guys headed?”

“We’re going to practice” Tae answered happily.

“Oh, you guys have practice now?” The younger two nodded in response. “But this morning Hoseok said you guys had practice in the afternoon?” he questioned.

“Yeah, well. We do” Jimin said giggling pointing at themselves.

“It’s just, I need to practise more” Taehyung clarified, a smile on his face but his tone serious. Namjoon questioned him with his eyes. “I’m behind with the routine, with meeting Baekhyun so often and all, and Jiminnie here is being a sweetheart and he’s going to help me practise for a few hours.” He smiled, wrapping his arm around Jimin’s neck and smudging their faces together.

“Ah, of course” Namjoon nodded, understanding. “Well then, guys, I’ll see you later yeah? Don’t over do it” he said as he patted their heads and walked off, hearing their goodbyes as they made their way into practise, and him to his Tutor’s office.  


\-------

After leaving the professor’s office, he didn’t feel like going home yet, so he decided to head for the studio instead. He loved his majors, but some of the Sociology curses he was taking sometimes bored the life out of him -no, he did _not_ care of how human interactions might resemble animal behaviours; he _knew_ , he did not need an hour and a half of monotonous talk about things he experienced _daily-_ , so going to the studio was the best solution to get his brain back into functioning. Once he got there, he looked for an empty un-reserved room, and walked inside. He locked the door and dropped his stuff on a chair, turning on all of the devices. He texted Yoongi while the computers turned on.

He put his phone aside -assuming “ _class_ ” meant that his hyung was also meeting his tutor that morning-, and opened the folders on the computer to load the track they were working on. When he had woken up that morning, Hoseok had come up to him happily, his smile bright and comforting, and, without even greeting him good morning, he had started speaking, or more exactly, squealing at his roommate; “ _Namjoonie, yesterday I was practising and I got this idea and basically I added this little ‘whoop!” at the end of some of the lines and I just showed Yoongi and he said it sounded great and we think it adds a lot to the dynamic of the song and so basically just_ listen to it!” he explained in one single breath.

So he loaded Hoseok’s track, and listened to it diligently, enjoying the way it flowed, catching what the other had meant by the “ _whoop!”_. It added more dynamic and energy to the piece, so he smiled contently at the dancer’s input. Being honest with himself, he quite liked how the song had evolved so far. It was steady, but strong; the beat was lively but not so much that it would steal attention from the dancers. But he knew himself, and there was a feeling at the back of his head telling him he wasn’t nearly done with the song, at all. He had learnt after many years of composing that this was the feeling that would lead to him deleting the final track in an impromptu impulse if he listened to it without the intention of rearranging it. So he played it a few times, learning every note, every harmony, every silence by heart, and then he closed his eyes and remained silent. He started humming the song, trying slight changes of tone here and there, or even some harmonisations, going slightly above or under the pitch of the track.

At one point, humming became words, mumbling short rhymes and whispering sentences softly, his brain swaying between Korean and English comfortably. Liking the path that the sentences were taking, he started putting verses together, just playing with words, meanings and ideas, lulled by the track.

He and Yoongi had discussed it before; adding or not lyrics to the track. He had thought that it could potentially work, of course, but Yoongi had just quieted on the matter, and it had ended suddenly on the fact that they simply did not “ _have a singer_ ”, followed by a softer “ _No, Joon-ah, you don’t count for this one_ ”. The younger had laughed and they had bickered, him defending his vocal abilities, and the elder saying that if they needed to impersonate a singing goat for their song, he would be the first on the list.

Namjoon hadn’t been too engrossed in the idea, so he didn’t mind that is was pushed aside, but maybe they could find a singer, because now the lyrics were starting to form in his head and the song was acquiring a meaning and it just _clicked_ too well. So he messaged Yoongi again.

 

Namjoon felt a new wave of energy at the elder’s reply. Excited, he texted Hoseok, thinking he would drop by as soon as he was done with the song, not wanting to wait before he showed it to the dancer and got his feedback. He was also happy to show him that his change in the beat worked amazingly –his flatmate was always so unsure about his composing abilities-.

Turning every gadget on – and dropping his headphones in the process, as he was putting them on too excitedly and too quickly- he got working on adapting the song to the lyrics he had written down, this helping him to add a couple hooks and change some harmonies, adding or taking away melodies as he felt suited better. Soon he found himself absorbed by the tune, and when he next looked at his phone to check a message he had just gotten, he saw two hours had passed. So much for “ _I’ll drop by in a sec_ ”. He was practically done, having worked on full capacity with the explosion of energy from being able to put lyrics into the song. Sometimes he would do that, work as excitedly as a kid with a new toy, grin wide and eyes glimmering.

Content with the result, he saved the changes and shoved everything into his bag, notes crumbling against headphones and cables. He grabbed his phone as he was heading out the door, and quickly texted Hoseok an “ _OMW!_ ”. He didn’t really worry about being late to meet the dancer, he would still be in dance practise. He did, however, have some other messages.

He texted without looking at where he was walking, familiar enough to know when to turn and when to change directions, but glancing upwards now and then to make sure he didn’t walk into any not-permanent things –those being other people walking-. So, he had to meet Seokjin in the caffé in 20. That meant he had to head over as soon as possible, or he would need to run, or speed walk with his _long-ass legs_ –as Jackson liked to refer to them when he was complaining about having short legs-.

He opened the door to the studio in which he knew Hoseok was practising –he always complained about how the others’ lighting made everything seem weird on the mirrors, and that distracted him-, and walked in, the song playing instantly getting his attention.

Hoseok and Jeongguk were dancing intensively to Boombayah, killing the choreography, and exaggerating some of the steps to, his roommate topping it with crazy expressions. They continued dancing, unfazed by Namjoon’s entrance. Jimin was behind the other two, sat on the floor and bent over himself, laughing loudly. Namjoon couldn’t be heard over the music, but he walked over the dancing boys singing along, some groove in his step. He pulled out his phone, deciding he was witnessing something he couldn’t let go to waste –also; great blackmailing material-, and started recording the dancing duo. Hoseok noticed him doing so, and laughing, he ran towards him, but instead he just grabbed Jimin’s arm and pulled him up. The younger kept saying no with his head and his arms, but he was still laughing, and Namjoon could hear Hoseok say “ _Freestyle! Freestyle!_ ” energetically, with his best English, as Jeongguk cheered his hyung screaming his name. Said man laughed and started moving his body lazily, shaking more from his giggling than from him trying to dance, so instead he pulled Jeongguk with him and gestured for him to dance first instead.

Shamelessly, the youngest started pumping his body, first with silly jazz hands, and then with over the top body waves and suggestive hip thrusts. Hoseok’s face had morphed into a wide opened smile, and he just clapped, amused at the younger’s ministrations, who did a handstand and dropped himself to the floor, slowly, almost grinding into it.

 _Damn that muscle pig_ , Namjoon thought, seeing the absolute control the younger had over his body. He snickered at his faces, shaking a little, but remembering he was still recording, he steadied his arms, and put the boys in frame again.

Jimin then pushed Jeongguk away, stealing his spot, and looked at the younger, signalling for him to look at himself with two fingers pointing at his eyes. He then proceeded to copy the younger’s moves, but making them just a tad slower, still somehow making them fit into the beat. When he got to the sexy moves, he started licking his lips and winking with such fervour it made Namjoon think that he could definitely make some cash as a stripper. Hoseok started screaming like a hormoned teenager, and Jeongguk cheered him on, making Jimin’s sexy persona drop in an instant, turning again into a giggling mass of cheeks and high squeaking sounds.

Namjoon then stopped recording, as he remembered that he was a bit of in a rush. He was always on for a challenge, so he walked to Hoseok, who was patting Jimin’s back proudly. Jeongguk had walked to the speakers, so Namjoon took the change to signal him to turn off the music.

“Joonieeee!” Hoseok greeted him, despite having been in the room for already a couple of minutes. “Did you enjoy the performances?” he asked cheekily.

“Hi Hoba” Namjoon replied. “Yes, that was great material. I see you guys are working hard on that dance, huh?” he teased.

“You were the one singing along to it. I bet you’ve seen their MV about a million times. Have you learnt their names yet?” Hoseok always teased Namjoon for how passionate he was about girl groups; he was a true fanboy and he knew their names, but most of the time his friends would just tell him he was being pervy. He wasn’t going to lie, he did find them attractive, but he was a fan for their music. Looks were just a very welcomed addition.

“Sometimes you need to change the mood to freshen your senses” Jimin replied, smiling. “Hi Namjoon-hyung”.

“Hi Jimin-ah” he pulled out his phone, “you should ditch working at the coffee shop and become a dancer at a club, you’d make more cash” he suggested laughing.

“Don’t think I’ve not actually considered that before” the younger replied winking.

“But of course you haven’t done so because children can’t go into clubs” Jeongguk added.

“You rascal!” Jimin said, but before he could approach the younger to tackle him, the boy threw a towel at his face, and instead of attacking him the shorter male opted for wiping his face with it, delaying the beat up.

“Hi, Namjoon-si” Jeongguk greeted him from behind his hands, voice muffled by the towel wiping his face.

“Heya, Jeongguk-si” he replied. He felt weird speaking so formally, knowing the other one was much younger, but he understood that although they were close with close friends, them to each other were simply acquaintances. There was a brief silence, so he decided to go for it, feeling the seconds go by. He _really_ didn’t want to make Seokjin wait. “So! I was working on the song. I actually listened to the changes you made” he said, facing Hoseok, “and it was just, great. It honestly works so well.” He saw his friend’s face light up, and Jimin did a little jump, whilst Jeongguk smiled softly. “But! Surprise. We’re thinking of adding lyrics. I kinda wrote them with your routine in mind, so I hope it fits what you felt. I mean, it’s just a draft for now but-”

“I’m sure it’ll be great, Joonie” Hoseok said, placing a hand on his taller friend’s shoulder. Namjoon had self-confidence, he was sure of his abilities, but he didn’t think himself perfect, and when he doubted his work he would start rambling. Hoseok knew this well, so he reassured his friend, his kind nature relaxing him instantly.

“Well, I- I mean. I’ll give it to you, and you can work on it, yeah?” he placed his bag on the floor, and looked for the USB inside. He had picked things up messily at the studio, and it took him a few seconds of moving papers and cables to find it. He handed it to Hoseok, closing his bag and standing up. “Just give it back to me later.”

“Will do, will do. Are you in a rush, though?” he asked Namjoon.

“I mean, not really, but Seokjin asked for a favour and I don’t wanna make him wait” the taller replied quickly. Jimin giggled and Jeongguk looked at him, as if analysing his answer. He didn’t want to think much of it, so he brushed it off. “I’ll see you later then, yeah? Make sure to let me know what you think. We can still make changes so, yeah. Anything.”

“Yeees” Hoseok said cheerfully. “Go now, then. We don’t wanna make Seokjin wait!”

“Yeah, see you later Hoba. Later, Jimin, Jeongguk-si” he headed to the door and waved back, hearing the younger two say goodbye to him as he walked out.

“Let’s do this!” was the last thing he heard, Hoseok’s unmistakeable voice pumping up the energy in the room. Namjoon smiled, thinking about his friend’s ability to make everyone feel energized and ready to give their best. He looked down at his phone, and checked the time.

“ _Shit_ ” he cursed in English. Two minutes too slow. He didn’t want to risk it, so he tightened his bag and rushed to the coffee shop.

\------

Thirteen minutes later and too many breaths short, Namjoon reached the caffeé, almost at the same as the older walked out of it. He could see Seokjin holding his phone in his hands, probably ready to text him to ask where he was, so, assessing the distance as close enough to be heard, he called out for him.

“Seokjin-hyung!” he shouted, panting. He older looked up at him, recognition painting his features and smile growing as he got closer.

“Hi Monie” he greeted him “did you run here?” He asked the younger as soon as he stopped in front of him, breathing heavily and placing his hands on his knees.

“Hyung I know you don’t have perfect eye sight but you literally just saw me running here” he said, looking up through his fringe –which was sweaty, as he would break into a sweat as easy as he would drop anything which was meant not to fall-, and smirking lightly, dimples on full display. The elder rolled his eyes, as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“I might not have perfect eyesight but at last I am a perfect sight for eyes” he said with a straight face, tone serious, before breaking into a fit of high pitched giggles.

“Hyung, you’re so corny” the younger replied as he stood straight, taking a full breath. He wasn’t going to argue something that was simply true, so he just smiled softly before speaking. “So, you said this was a matter of life or death, what’s wrong?”

Turning to him and placing his hands on the rapper’s shoulders, Seokjin looked at him straight in the eye, and put on his most serious face before speaking. Namjoon tried to listen and not get distracted by how close the other’s face was to his. What even was personal space anymore? “Namjoon, I need you”. The younger waited, slightly fazed by Seokjin’s wording. However, he waited, and nodded slightly for the other to continue. “But this is something we can only solve in my flat” he ended solemnly, closing his hands on the younger’s shoulders, before letting his façade collapse, his features softening completely, and a soft smile plastering on his face. Namjoon just stared, confused, not sure how to react to Seokjin’s smirk. So he simply nodded, and breathed out a short agreement. “So let’s get going, yeah?”

\-----

Walking to Seokjin’s flat, the males talked animatedly and asked each other how their day had gone. They always kept each other updated on their work and college life, and it had been so since they had met a couple of years back, when the younger first started university, and walking out of the library more seep deprived than should be humanly possible, he had walked into a moving wall –or at least that’s how it felt to his weak body- and poured said wall’s tea all over their t-shirts. A very clichéd meeting, but Seokjin remembered it always with a big smile, explaining how Namjoon had insisted in paying back for his tea, or getting him a new one, but he kept stumbling with his words, so they arranged for the younger to make it up another time. They didn’t exchange numbers then, because Seokjin was too busy cleaning himself, and all Namjoon could think about was his bed, but they bumped into each other a few weeks later in a similar scenario, and had become close ever since, bonding over tea and coffee meetings when they needed a bit of calm and time off.

“By the way, how’s Tae keeping? I haven’t seen him much lately” the elder asked as they arrived at the flat, opening the door and letting Namjoon walk in and close it after him.

“He’s actually crazy busy, I’ve not seen him much either. He spends most of his time working with Baekhyun, and then catching up for the show with Jimin and Hobi” the rapper said, taking his shoes off. “You wanted to talk to him, though, right? Did you get a chance?”

“No, not really. I didn’t want to bother him, but I really need to know how he’s planning on setting the stage… I need to know if he wants me to get anything, or if I need to install whatever…” Seokjin explained as he walked to the kitchen without waiting for Namjoon. He knew his way around well enough, guidance was unnecessary.

“Yeah… He’ll be free after Monday though. I know that’s the big day, sorta.”

“So like, tomorrow?”

“Ah, yes, yes. Tomorrow. But you’re probably gonna talk to him, he’s gonna give you his current idea, and then he’s gonna pull out something equally as impossible as brilliant the night before the performance” the younger explained, standing next to Seokjin, who was rummaging around the cupboards and putting out bowls and plates.

“YAH! That kid will probably do just that” the elder said sighing. “Trust a Design student to design you a constant headache.”

“At least it’s an aesthetic headache, Hyung.” Namjoon said laughing at his friend’s complaints.

“The most beautiful headache in life, it is indeed”.

“So Seokjin-hyung, you still haven’t told me what you needed me so badly for” Namjoon asked again as he sat on a chair next to the kitchen counter, and Seokjin froze for a moment, hand mid-air as he reached for a packet of rice.

“Ah, yes. Yeah” Seokjin stuttered, flustered. “Yeah, I-, well.” He closed his eyes for a second, his face losing colour slightly, as if he had been blushing, and started talking again. “I needed your help because I might be flawless in many aspects” he said turning to Namjoon and putting on an exaggerated modelling expression, making the younger chuckle “yet, I am faced with terrible enemies sometimes.”

Seokjin kept using all of his body and his face to put as much emotion as he could to his words, and Namjoon just kept watching him, enjoying the show until the elder talked again.

“And I can’t do anything when _this_ happens” Namjoon was startled as the end of the sentence was punctuated by the elder shoving his phone at his face. The younger stumbled back on the chair, blinking rapidly because he couldn’t really see what was on the screen. His brain wasn’t really that focused on the devise, though, as he had moved too suddenly and the chair was wobbling under him, so he was praying for his life, and reached forward with his arm, holding onto the elder’s outstretched arm with a firm grip, and pulling. Seokjin reacted quickly enough, and pulled the younger by the arm, grabbing his phone tight in case it fell with the struggling. But the result of both of them pulling achieved nothing but for Namjoon to crash onto Seokjin’s chest with his head, surely not falling back, but staggering forward because of the strength of it all.

With his face buried on the elder’s chest, Namjoon’s brain tried to understand that no, he hadn’t fallen, and was probably not going to fall anymore, but his body was trying to catch up with the aftershock, the chair still not feeling secure enough.

“Are you okay, Joon-ah?” asked Seokjin with a thin voice, his arm still trapped in the younger’s grip, held between their bodies. Namjoon blinked, and let go quickly, but careful not to lose balance again.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Jesus, I feared for my life” he joked while looking up to meet Seokjin’s eyes. But although he had let go of his arm, the elder had not moved back, and he was still standing right in front of him, his gaze fixed on the younger with something he couldn’t read, so he just stared back, trying to understand what was going through his friend’s head. He was always easy to read, but then there were these moments where he had no idea what was going on in the other’s mind, and for some strange reason, they were getting much more frequent as of lately.

His curiosity to read Seokjin better was pulling him closer, and he was leaning onto him, as if he was studying but the book’s font was much too small for him to read. Only a couple seconds had gone by, but the moment was dragging, and neither of them were tearing their eyes from the other’s.

Suddenly, Seokjin’s phone buzzed, and broke the moment, the owner of the devise suddenly moving back and unlocking it quickly, and the younger simply looked around the kitchen, avoiding Seokjin’s figure, and coughed to break the silence. The elder fumbled with his phone for a few moments, and Namjoon stretched his arm with his hand open, asking for it.

“Okay, so, let me see those terrible enemies of yours” he explained.

“Yeah, yeah. These are them” he gave him the phone with the search engine opened on a page with some text and many pictures. The text was in English, and Namjoon quickly recognised the text as a recipe.

“Hyung is this a recipe?” he asked obliviously, looking up to the elder, who has now standing next to him as comfortable as ever, the slightest shade of pink on his cheeks, who answered with a simple “Yup”. Or maybe it was the light making Seokjin’s face look coloured? Namjoon couldn’t be sure, and staring at his friend now felt a bit weird, so he looked down at the phone screen again, reading it. “But it’s in English?” he half enounced half asked. “And you need me to translate it for you?”

“Correct!” the other said cheerfully.

“But hyung, your English is good enough, you don’t need me?” Namjoon continued, slightly confused.

“Kim Namjoon I take my baking very seriously. It’s a new recipe and I’m not gonna risk it. Plus, if you’re here I already have a victim to try the result” he explained, turning around and pulling out some plates and food from the counters. Namjoon’s stomach growled at the sight, and suddenly he remembered he hadn’t had lunch yet.

“I’m cooking now, don’t worry” the elder said, walking up to him and patting his head in a child-like manner, and taking the phone from his hands, typing something, and giving it back. “We’ll eat lunch and then you can help me bake this wonderful piece of art, and maybe you’ll get a piece as a reward” the elder teased while getting ready to cook. He became very multifunctional when cooking, the activity almost as natural as breathing for him. He loved it, and how much time he had spent helping his mom cook back home really reflected on his skills.

“But you said I would be victimised, not rewarded” Namjoon replied.

“Are you here to test my speech cohesion, or to help me cook?”

“Either or, depending which entertains me most” Namjoon said, scrolling down the phone and eyeing the recipe’s pictures. It was a sort of cake topped with fruit, which looked quite simple, but then in another picture he could see the inside of it, and it was layered in colours, different tones of pink and red. It was actually very aesthetic and it was making Namjoon excited to try it. He was usually banned from the kitchen, so he couldn’t make such goods, but he was going to do his best and translate with top accuracy to make sure Seokjin would make the best cake ever known to mankind.

He could be exaggerating, but you can’t blame someone when they’re thinking with their stomach and not their head. Namjoon continued reading through the page, making sure there was no vocabulary he needed to check, and that he understood everything, while Seokjin cooked and asked him for a couple of things meanwhile. That went on for a while, both of them enjoying the silence and the light chatting, Namjoon studying the steps carefully and Seokjin singing softly. He did so usually when he cooked, but not when he had company, as most of their friends were quite talkative and their chatting was enough to fill the silence, leaving no need for the elder to fill it with his soft tunes.

After a while, Seokjin was asking Namjoon to set the table for them and soon enough they were filling their stomachs, the guest praising the taste animatedly. They always said the best thing about Seokjin’s cooking was that it made them feel like they were back home, and Namjoon felt content when his plate was empty.

“Aah hyung that was amazing” he praised one more time.

“I heard you the first thirty times Joon-ah, but thank you” he said laughing, as he stood up and picked his plate, Namjoon following suit.

“You wanna start cooking now?” he asked as he reached the counter and stood behind his hyung, waiting for him to turn around and grab his plate. “Here” he said, giving it to him when he did so.

“Thank you” the elder replied, and thought for a bit before replying while he organized everything inside the sink. “Maybe we should rest for a while and then cook. The rest after the meal is part of the meal itself” he explained.

“Of course, of course” the younger said as he laughed lightly and walked to the sofa, getting comfortable and pulling his phone out, opening twitter and scrolling down his feed. He could see some sort of bicker going on between Jeongguk and Jimin, and some story on how Seokjin had had to change his username to “PinkPrincess” due to losing a dare to Jeongguk, and he laughed as he read their comments.

A couple seconds later, he felt Seokjin poking his legs, asking to move them so he could sit on the sofa next to him, no words exchanged. They sat there, in silence, for a while, both on their phones, moving every once in a while to get comfortable.

At one point, Namjoon realized that he was practically laying on Seokjin already, most of his body weight on his side, leaning onto the elder’s wide shoulders, so he put his arm up on the backrest, behind his friend’s back so their arms wouldn’t be squished together between their sides, and Seokjin readjusted his position too, moving his back closer to his friends chest, giving him room to put his feet up on the sofa and lay onto the younger’s body. They tended to move like that, always finding comfort and balance in each other.

The guest felt the weight on his chest grow heavier as the minutes went on, and not much later Seokjin’s phone fell from his hands onto his own lap, his head lolling slightly back and onto the side, laying on Namjoon’s still stretched arm. It was comfortable and warm, in more ways than simply physical body heat, having the elder so close and so peacefully next to him. Namjoon found the elder always extremely endearing, whether it was because of his obnoxious sense of humour, his fake-angry outbursts, or the calm in his features when he was with his family or friends, cooking or chatting with them; but he felt extremely special at how much his hyung trusted him like this, falling asleep and taking care of him. He could smell his champoo, sweet and candy-like, and he felt wrapped up in it, a soft smile settling on his lips.

\------

“Namjoon-ah…” Seokjin said groggily, the younger’s name barely recognisable as it was more yawned than spoken. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep” he said as he turned his head and placed his forehead onto Namjoon’s arm, “my face swallows” he whined softly.

Namjoon put down his phone, closing the tab where he was reading an article on Drake’s latest album and chuckling. “It’s fine, hyung” he replied as the other stretched and sat up, his chest still somehow heavy despite the weight being lifted off it. “So, shall we get on cooking?” he asked, and Seokjin turned around and flashed him the brightest smile, his face slightly rounder due to sleep.

 _‘Cute_ ’

“C’mon Monie! Let’s bake it nicely~” he sang as he got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen stretching his arms over his head, his walk not half as certain as his voice. Namjoon stood up and followed him to the kitchen, watching his hyung start to put things out from the cupboards and the fridge. “I think I got all the ingredients and measures right, but could you double check for me?” he asked the younger.

“Yeah, sure” he replied as he took his phone out and started scrolling up the page where the recipe was, where the ingredients were listed, making sure what it said matched with what the older was putting down on the table. “You got it all right for what I see, hyung” he noted.

“ _Of course!_ ” Seokjin said in English, as if to prove his abilities in the language. He bent down to grab something from a drawer, while Namjoon scrolled back down to the instructions and steps. When he looked up again, his friend had a pink apron which resembled Mario’s Princess Peach dress, and he chuckled, as he did every time he saw him wear it. He turned to him and stepped closer, holding another apron in his hand.

“Thanks, Joon-ah” he said as he unfolded the cloth in front of the rapper, putting his arms out. Used to this, Namjoon put his head down so Seokjin could put the apron on him in an easier manner –he wasn’t much taller than the older, but it was automatic to adjust-, and then he put his arms up, allowing the other to tie the apron on his back. In doing this, it was almost as if they were hugging, which they did quite frequently, but Namjoon got momentarily caught in the moment, having the elder pressed against him again, his face right next to his, his smell so familiar and comforting, and he felt warmth creep up to his face, despite having been in a much similar position just five minutes ago.

‘ _What…_ ’

As soon as Seokjin finished and stepped back, Namjoon turned to the counter, checking the ingredients in an interested manner, and he heard the other male take a deep breath and announce with a happy voice “Okay then! Let’s get started”.

They started picking food, and with Seokjin’s skills and Namjoon’s guidance, began making the batter for the cake.

“If I had to give up video games or eating, what would it be?” Asked Seokjin out of the blue after some minutes of mixing.

“Physiologically you wouldn’t be able to live without food, hyung; so food” replied Namjoon without batting an eye, making the other laugh.

“Moni that’s not what I meant! But okay. Your turn” he explained, implying Namjoon should now be the one to make a random question.

“What’s my favourite fashion style?” he asked smugly.

“Japanese style currently. You used to be into more street hiphop, but you go by eras” Seokjin elaborated calmly.

“Eras?”

“Yeah, you know. Like, a period defined by a general common trait, with ending and beginning” he elaborated.

“So what if I were to start wearing street hiphop clothes again? Would it be the rebirth of an era? Or a mixed era? Or an era that never truly ended?” The younger questioned, grabbing the elder’s hand and stopping him from adding an ingredient “Vainilla extract first” he explained, handing him the little bottle.

“Oh, right, thanks” he said, now putting them in the bowl in the right order. “Well, I think it would be simply like a tribute to an old era.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought” Namjoon said laughing lightly.

“Where was I born?”

“Seoul” Namjoon said, and suddenly his cheek felt oddly moist.

“Wrong! I lived there from a very young age, but I was born in Anyang-Gwangcheon” he explained laughing, and as he put his and away from Namjoon’s face, the younger saw his fingers were dirty with batter, and then he understood.

“How old is my younger sister?” Namjoon counter attacked quickly, seeing Seokjin’s smile fall.

“Sixteen” he said, almost questioning.

“Wrong” Namjoon replied, fingers already dipped in the batter, and painted the elder’s nose in it, smirking.

“No fair!”

“You brought this upon yourself, hyung.”

“This is a fight you can’t win, Kim Namjoon” threatened the elder, face serious, but the threatened one couldn’t take him seriously with his nose painted yellow due to the cake mix.

“I think this is a war you’ve already lost, Kim Seokjin” the younger replied, smile wide, and Seokjin’s eyes thinned, looking up at the younger, and taking a step to get right in his face.

“We’ll see” he said with his face in front of the other, whose stomach dropped slightly to the floor due to the sudden movement.

They continued in that manner for a while, throwing in impossible questions; guessing some right, and getting battered for the rest, until the bowl’s mix was finished and the spoons and other mixing utensils were free of it, having all of it ended in each other’s hands and faces.

“And now, we wait for the magic to happen” said the elder as he put the uncooked cake in the oven.

“I feel like you just offended every bedroom ever by using that sentence here” the rapper spoke with fake indignation.

“I feel like _you_ just offended any kitchen ever by assuming that bedroom activities aren’t suited for kitchen areas” Seokjin defended, making the other laugh.

“You should keep the batter on though, really suits your face” Namjoon joked, still smiling.

“This would be very different if either of us had a food kink” Seokjin commented as if nothing.

“Then that sentence would actually be spoken as it should” he stated firmly. “I can’t believe you don’t have a food kink, hyung. I’d even bet you love food more than you’d love your potential partner” the younger replied, handing Seokjin things to put in the sink, and making the other laugh.

“They’re different types of love, Monie.”

“Yeah, existent and absent” he pointed out.

“You’d love more any female idol than your potential partner, so don’t come at me with that” the elder counter-parted, handing him a wash cloth to clean the dirtied surfaces where they had been using to bake on –and mess on-.

“Okay, first of all, those are _people_ in both cases”

“Hey we’re not kink shaming anybody” the elder interrupted, and Namjoon continued speaking while he rolled his eyes.

“ _And_ , what is it with you all thinking I’m obsessed with female idols?! I just know how to appreciate talent, I don’t care in what shape or packaging it comes” he defended himself.

“Yeah, but you’ve got a clear preference for pretty girls, and you can’t deny that” Seokjin said. The younger thought he didn’t sound as light anymore, but maybe he was imagining it, or maybe he was just tired from the baking.

“I mean, it all comes down to aesthetic” he continued, laughing.

“Sure, it does”.

“Of course it does. Idols are meant to be portrayed like that, like beautiful unachievable Gods who are superior to the rest of humans. I simply take on my part, as a lowly human, and appreciate it as it comes; no need to fight the fact that they are incredibly talented and extremely beautiful” he argued.

“And you’re extremely basic” Seokjin said drily.

Namjoon kept talking, having fun now that the elder was taking the piss on him. He found Seokjin very amusing when he tried to make fun of others, because he would pretend to be ticked off, and that alone was a show on itself. It was also very touching when he would go a bit overboard, and would start making fun of himself to make others feel better and get them to laugh at their own flaws. Such an interesting human, he was.

“I went to see Hobi today while they were practising, right before meeting you, and they teased be for the same. You guys make me seem like a perverted old man” he continued.

“Let me remind you how you broke a computer because of downloading too much porn” Seokjin said joking, yet without the humour in his voice the story would normally evoke.

“It was a shared computer! It could have been anyone” he continued scrubbing the surface, now practically clean. He only got a laugh in response, so he went up to the sink where the elder was, and shoved him to the side lightly, hoping playing around would bring Seokjin back from wherever he had gone in his land of thought.

“Oh, sorry” he moved, giving the taller more than enough space to wash the cloth, and turned around to put the still wet plates in the cupboard already.

“Hyung, won’t you let that dry?” Namjoon wondered.

“Nah, that’s fine.” He turned around and took the cloth from Namjoon’s hand lightly. “Listen, the cake will still take a while to cook, and I still have to decorate it and so, so it won’t be ready for a while. You can go if you want, and I’ll bring you a piece tomorrow or… something.”

Namjoon looked at him quizzically, feeling quite lost. He loved decorating the cakes, Seokjin knew this –there wasn’t much he could burn or break in that process-, and he was sort of asking him if he wanted to go, which meant he wanted him to leave. Feeling strangely separated from his comfortable place next to the elder, Namjoon just nodded, and undid his apron, standing in front of the host until he had it all off and handed it back. He looked down at him, waiting for something, but nothing happened, and he decided to move aside before things got weird. Or weirder than they already were at least, which would be difficult, because the atmosphere had changed so quickly Namjoon had no idea what had happened.

Maybe Seokjin was going through something he hadn’t told him, and he remembered suddenly and was now feeling sad. He was slightly hurt that his friend wasn’t trusting him with it, but he knew if he needed him, he would eventually come around to tell him, so he simply decided to give him the space he was asking for wordlessly.

“Okay hyung, that would be just great.” He walked to the sofa, where he picked up his bag. “Text me if you need anything else, okay?” he turned, and the elder simply nodded, offering him a smile.

“Will do, Joon-ah. Thank you for helping me today” he said again, not moving from his spot, still holding the apron in his hands.

“No problem, you know it. See you, then” the younger said as he walked to the door, a hint of doubt showing in how he kind of asked that last part, not fully convinced.

“Of course, see you soon”.

Namjoon reached the door and hesitated for a second, his hand on the knob. ‘ _Space, Namjoon_ ’, he told himself, and opened the door to exit the flat, with a heavy feeling on his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again thank you for leaving kudos and your comments!  
> *hand kiss*


	9. Sunday: Reminiscence (JK)

Jeongguk’s notes laid splattered on his desk, a copy of his position on his bed, eyes blinking lazily as he waited for Morpheus to take him to dreamland. His laptop was still running, screen black but programs open, a presentation on _Light in paintings; renaissance or impressionism_ lingering in it, ready to be shown to the world. The art student had tried his best not to pull an all-nighter; both the project and the presentation were finished, but he stayed up unwillingly, making and reading his notes in a compulsive manner until his eyes couldn’t take it any longer. He knew the project was good. He knew he had gotten somewhere with it, and that he had achieved great conclusions.

But he also knew he would freak out the second he stood up to speak. He wasn’t exactly afraid of public speeches, _per se_ , and it would only be for the first couple of minutes that his heart would race and he would feel cold sweat sliding down his nape. But the tension was still there. The fear of freezing up and now knowing what to do. The fear of having all eyes and ears on him, ready to analyse his every move and evaluate his every word. They were still there, haunting him.

But he wasn’t a child anymore. He couldn’t simply abandon the stage even before the performance started, and crawl into his parents arms, asking them to take him home because he didn’t want to sing in front of all those strangers. He couldn’t ask his hyung to pet his hair until he was calm again and forget what it had felt like. He didn’t have an excuse, he didn’t have “ _many years ahead to get a hold of himself and learn how to control himself so he could perform in front of people_ ”. He had grown up, and he was supposed to have achieved that already; he was supposed to be the _has-learned-to-control-his-fears-Jeongguk_.

And he didn’t know if he had.

He was sure he was nothing like he used to. He could now talk to strangers without having to look down, he could make friends by himself and smile honestly at them, he didn’t have to hide behind a friend when he was presented to a big group of people. And he was used to public speech, after many presentations in class, he knew he could pull it off efficiently.

And he couldn’t fail this time. This was important. This meant a great deal to him. It wasn’t only due to academic repercussion; it was for himself. He was proving himself that he could do it, that he would be able to assess art as it was meant to, that he had the knowledge and the ability to call himself an artist, and that he was able to cover the whole spectrum of it; from creator to critic.

This meant to him that he could rely on himself for things that mattered; and that he could work well and hard enough to achieve his goals.

This meant he could be a part of art, that he could decide exactly how, and that he would succeed.

Slowly, his breathing turned deeper and slower, and as he fell asleep, his worries dissipated, leaving room only for the anticipation of what awaited for him when he rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of week 1.


	10. Monday I: Success (JK)

The suit jacket sat on his shoulders, hugging his arm muscles, and the white shirt was tucked neatly into his tight jeans. Jeongguk eyed himself anxiously, pondering whether the fashion choice was adequate for the event. He felt like it was, as he kind of reminded himself of what his professors would wear –the ones with a minimum sense of fashion, that was-.

“Jeongguk-ah, your coffee is ready” Yoongi announced as he walked past the younger’s door on his way to the couch of the sitting room in their shared apartment, making Jeongguk walk from the mirror quickly and speed-walk into the kitchen. “Though I don’t really think you need the caffeine right now” the elder said as he saw the stress embedded in the other’s pace. Jeongguk reached the counter where his favourite Iron Man mug rested, ready to be chugged down.

“Thank you, hyung” Jeongguk was holding a bunch of wrinkled papers in his hand which had obviously been through a lot of folding and unfolding, and he put them down in exchange for the mug. He sipped on the beverage, standing in place and looking ahead with an unfixed sight.

“Have you got everything ready?” Yoongi asked him, already knowing the answer but trying to get him off his wall-staring induced trance. The younger blinked a couple of times before answering, head turning to his flatmate slowly, as if showing the speed at which his thoughts were being processed.

“Yeah, yeah. All is set and ready. I’m gonna head over earlier though, I wanna make sure everything works and that there’s no last minute technology fuck up which ruins the presentation or whatever”, he tracked off with a thin voice.

“Wow. That’s kinda clever of you” Yoongi mocked him lacing his words with surprise, to which Jeongguk answered turning his head, this time much faster and naturally to glare daggers into his hyung.

“I’m going to pee on everything you love” he threatened weakly.

“There’s not that much to pee on though, sorry” he replied, cat-eyes calm and looking straight at his dongsaeng.

“How well do you think liquid and electronic equipment go together?” Jeongguk answered, challenging, taking a long sip of his coffee and placing the emptied cup back on the counter without looking away from Yoongi’s face.

“You would never. Unless you wish to see all of your belongings turned into ashes, that is” Yoongi wasn’t backing down. Plus Jeongguk seemed to have forgotten about his anxious state and his body looked slightly less tense –not relaxed, not even close, but just a bit further from resembling a tree trunk and more like entering the spectrum of bamboo sticks-.

“I always knew you had a thing for setting stuff on fire, but I never expected such a straight forwarded confession” Jeongguk moved to gather his papers again, and walked to the dinning table, where his bag-pack had been dropped at some point since he had woken up. He rummaged inside it and pulled out a cable until his earphones propped out entirely from it. He put them around his neck and plugged them into his phone as he waited for Yoongi to give his comeback, but it didn’t come so he looked up to the sofa where his hyung had last spoken from. He was staring at his phone, expression focused and small smirk pulling his lips up.

“Hyung, what is it?” he asked curiously.

“Mh, you’ll find out soon enough” Yoongi replied while he tapped on the screen of his phone. His smile hadn’t faded, but he was trying to tame it as he turned to the other and asked dismissingly “weren’t you going anyway?”

“Okay mister cryptic. See you later, hyung” Jeongguk decided that if he _was_ to find out later, then there was no need for him to press in now and waste his precious time to get nothing from the elder. He picked his back up and moved to the flat’s door.

“You don’t need it, but good luck today, brat” were the last words that slipped outside through the door right before he closed it, drawing a timid smile on the younger’s face.

\------

The second Jeongguk stepped into the auditory, he looked around, glancing at the empty seats and trying to imagine them full with enthusiastic listeners ready to soak in his work. He imagined them; eyes focused and taking in all of his words, and a small shiver run down his spine, already full with pride at the simple idea of being able to offer something of his own to other people and getting the opportunity to receive their knowledge in return. He also saw himself, sitting front row to excitedly learn about the other students who were also selected to present their works.

Sometimes college students tend to hate everything about college life, and Jeongguk was no exception. But then there are opportunities like these, as rare as a hen’s teeth, which exist as reminders as to why attending college was truly chosen in the first place. The chance to learn and share in a real open environment, where all ideas are welcome as long as they create more ideas, sparking creativity into life and firing up everyone’s spirits. Or at least that’s how Jeongguk felt in that moment, and he was willing to treasure it for the next time he thought about jumping in front of a train instead of putting up with another minute of class.

The warm feeling was welcomingly bathing Jeongguk’s body, and his face shinned like a young boy who was excited to go to the playground and find his best friends waiting there to play with him, features softening and showing how young he still was, getting rid of the tension and the stress that made look and act older when he was under pressure.

“Good morning, Jeongguk” spoke a high pitched and animated voice, coming from somewhere outside of Jeongguk’s visual field.

“Kim-seonsaeng!” the younger replied smiling, he turned his body to him and bowed lightly, greeting him good morning.

“Are you ready? You’re the first one in, but” his teacher put his hand up in front of his face and looked at his wrist “everyone is probably going to arrive soon”.

“Yes, everything is ready. Do we have the program yet?” Jeongguk asked standing in front of his teacher, giggling internally at the height difference between them. His teacher was still young, and on top of that he looked younger than he was, but his body was slim compared to Jeongguk’s muscular limbs, and that amused him on a comedy gag level. ‘ _Humor for the simple minded_ ’, he thought to himself.

“Yes, we do” the other confirmed. “But I don’t have it with me” he said chuckling. “Professor Byun took my copy by mistake last ni-”

“Good morning, everyone!” spoke up a cheery voice, interrupting the males and making them turn to face the entering figure who was walking into the room with an animated pace and a wide smile.

“Good morning, Baekhyun-ah” replied Jeongguk’s tutor with a soft smile.

Jeongguk turned to the newcomer who he recognised as Professor Byun Baekhyun from the Design Department, bowing and greeting him good morning. Mid-bow he heard a deeper voice, known but not recognisable without the speaker’s face. He stood up straight, and he met another bowing body, whose chocolate brown hair seemed somehow familiar. He then stood up, and faced Jeongguk just briefly, allowing him to recognise the boy. It was Taehyung who greeted him and Jeongguk blinked in confusion, bowing late and too quickly whilst the other one just smiled softly and turned to the professors. Jeongguk watched them, unanswered questions in his head, their casual conversation not registering in his head.

The three men were standing close to each other, so he took a small step towards them, and then Professor Byun unfolded a pamphlet in front of all of them to read. Jeongguk recognised it as the program for the event, so he looked at it attentively, reading the times and the names of the talks and lecturers. He found the title of his project “ _Light in paintings; renaissance or impressionism”_ and his name under it, followed by another similarly titled project “ _Light inversion”_ underlined with ‘ _Kim Taehyung_ ’. They were the third and fourth listed talks; Jeongguk’s, Taehyung’s right after, and followed by a coffe break before the “ _Discussion Panel_ ”, where both their names were written. After that it was just lunch break and the afternoon lectures, but Jeongguk just read the program over and over, mostly wondering about the Discussion Panel, as his professor hadn’t told him that he would have to discuss anything other than his project in the round of questions, and he had definitely not mentioned anything about doing a joint discussion with another student –said student not being on the best terms with him-.

“So about the joint discussion,” started Professor Kim, catching Jeongguk’s attention “Professor Byun and I decided to do this without telling you, and for that I apologize-”

“Sorry~” sang Professor Byun on top of the other.

“But we have our reasons. This project counts for a big part of your final grade, and we consider you both excellent and capable students.” He explained. Jeongguk scoffed mentally at how being a great student implied public torture.

“For that, we’re giving you this chance,” the design teacher continued. “We trust that with the knowledge you’ve acquired from your personal projects you will be able to carry on this discussion without it being more than an easy challenge.”

“This, of course, will be rewarded. Within the assistants there will be people willing to hire you in the future if you are able to show what you’ve got to give already.”

Both professors stopped speaking for a second, and Jeongguk could feel his mouth slightly agape, eyes wide with disbelief.

“They will give us job offers?” Taehyung said in a thin voice, his face a mirror of the younger, and his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“That’s exactly what we’re saying, Taehyung-ah” replied Professor Byun with a wide smile, which Jeongguk noticed looked a lot like Taehyung’s own rectangular smile.

“But, Baekhyun-hyung! You can’t just- we-” Taehyung started speaking highly, his words mixing together. Jeongguk looked at him as he started blushing while talking, his nerves showing in his face and his voice, and took a breath to speak instead.

“Kim-seonsaeng, Byun-seonsaengnim” he spoke slowly, directing his voice to both teachers.

“Oh please call me Baekhyun-hyung” the latest interrupted him.

“Don’t bother, I’ve tried for him to call me Jongdae-hyung for so long I’ve just given up” his teacher added.

“I got Taehyung-ah to-” the youngest cleared his throat to get the attention back, and spoke up, interrupting the male’s conversation.

“I feel flattered that you trust us so blindly, but how can we do a whole panel discussion with no sort of preparation? You surely know well enough professionality takes time and we can’t just… wing it” he ended curtly, for lack of a better term. He could see Taehyung nodding vigorously next to him, supporting his argument.

“Jeongguk-ah, that’s a given; you do have time, even if only a little. But that’s part of the challenge. You must get it ready during the coffee break that is programmed between your lectures” his tutor said, pointing at the time table in the pamphlet for emphasis.

“The topic of the Discussion, of course, will be Light, as you have both approached the issue in greatly differentiated perspectives, and all you have to do is share your points of view, and show us how to compare-” Professor Byun was interrupted by the ringing of his phone, and he looked at the screen for a second, probably reading the message he had gotten. He typed quickly on the screen and looked up to his colleague, speaking again without finishing his previous sentence.

“Jongdae, we have work to do” he commanded looking at the other, who put his hands in his pockets calmly and smiled up to the boys.

“I hope you guys understand that we trust you. You can find us later and ask us any questions if you need anything else” he winked cheekily at the boys and turned to his co-worker, who seemed to be waiting for him to stop speaking, and when he deemed the conversation finished –in reality the students were simply too dumbfounded to think of anything else to say- he took hold Jongdae’s arm, and pulled it out of his pocked, grabbing his hand once it was outside while the other simply looked at him amusedly.

“We’ll talk before your panels guys! Don’t you worry, you can do it” He said as he pulled both of them away and started talking to Jongdae, voice hurried and unclear, and hands still held together until they walked out the door. Jeongguk’s mind was reeling with the sudden news and the behaviour of the Professors, so he just stared in confusion until Taehyung broke the silence.

“Oh my God what the fuck” he said simply. The art student turned to him and waited for him to say something else, staring blankly. He saw him close his eyes and bring his hand to his face, exhaling exasperatedly as he pressed the tips of his fingers on the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was trying to calm down, his normally light and bright features contorted with worry, and the younger didn’t really know what to say. He had looked mostly put while they had received the news, but now he was showing that he was not so calm about it as he might have seemed.

“Okay, okay” he whispered, more to himself than anything else. “Alright, let’s not panic” he turned to Jeongguk, his expression focused again. “We’re going to have to work together, and we’re going to do well. This is a great opportunity, okay? Okay. Yes.” He answered himself, and Jeongguk felt like he was being questioned in his abilities. He snickered, feeling ticked off.

“Of course we’re going to have to do well. I know I can trust myself, I’m great at working under pressure anyway” he said with his voice low and firm. “I don’t know so much about you, though.” Taehyung’s eyes widened, shock clear in his face at the unexpected hostility. “I hope your… lack of commitment in team work activities will not interfere with this” The younger finished, standing straight to look at his elder straight in the eye –the fact that Taehyung was slightly taller, not much to have been noticed before, but enough for him to have to straighten now to impose himself, annoyed him more than he’d like to admit-.

“What the fuck are you talking about? And what’s with your attitude? It’s like you’ve got a stick up your ass all day, man” Taehyung spoke back, squaring his shoulders and making Jeongguk feel like he was being towered over, despite his body being much bigger than the other. “You need to change your attitude, that’s for sure”.

“And you need to learn to keep your word” Jeongguk spat back, taking a step towards the other and getting into his personal space, the distance between them small but filled with tension.

“You think you know so much, don’t you?” Taehyung replied, tilting his body forward to show that he was not intimidated by the younger’s proximity. “Let’s see how does all-mighty Jeon Jeongguk do when he walks all over the people he’s supposed to work with” he finished, taking a step back and walking away, leaving Jeongguk rooted in place, anger taking over nerves and making his blood boil.

\-----------

Clapping sounds filled the auditorium at the end of each talk, and with every clap of hands Jeongguk’s level of anxiety rose slightly. He was fighting with himself to stay calm, to keep his nerves from blocking him, but the fight with Taehyung had set him on edge.

He took a deep breath and stood up from his seat when the applause for the second lecture ended. Chatter filled the room, the audience discussing the topic of the talk in small groups from their seats. He walked to the stage straightening his jacket, his muscles stiff and his movements forced. He saw his tutor waiting for him by the stage’s end, so he walked to him first, praying his body not to break into a sweat.

“Jeongguk-ah, I’m delighted to have led you through this project, and now I want you to show all of them-” he waved his hand lightly towards the attendees, and Jeongguk’s eyes swept over the crowd “how much you know” he finished with a soft smile, and he put his hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder in encouragement.

“Yes, I will do my best. Thank you” Jeogguk breathed in and bowed lightly to his tutor, watching his carefree expression and soft features and feeling his body release some tension. He nodded curtly and smiled to show he was ready, his body turning to the stage and taking a step up towards the stand where the microphone and the control for the presentation where set. He stood there for a couple of seconds, watching the crowd as the chatter died down slowly. He felt anxiousness rise, but he told himself it would all dissipate from his body as soon as he started speaking.

‘ _It will be over, and I will come out in one piece; I will succeed’_ he told himself as he took one deep breath while closing his eyes. He plastered a smile the second he opened them, and his sight fell on the lecturers sat down on the first row of seats, his smile unwavering as he started speaking, eyeing each of them with a hint of a challenge in his eyes.

“Good morning everyone, I am Jeon Jeongguk from the Arts Major, and I will speak to you about my project” he pressed a button and the screens turned on, showing the first slide on his presentation “ _Light in paintings; renaissance or impressionism_. I hope you will find it of interest and please take care of me” by the end of the sentence, his voice was steady and he felt less tense. His eyes locked with Teahyung’s, who was looking at him intently, studying him and his words. Jeongguk let a small smirk climb onto his lips at the thought of having the other’s full attention –‘ _Watch and learn’_ he thought-, and he started disserting his project with beautiful words and not an ounce of doubt in himself.

\---------

His head was facing the floor as he bowed to thank the audience for their attention and interest, a big smile plastered on his face and the sound of the applause filling his ears.

‘ _Done. I did it. That’s it._ ’

He walked down the stage as he heard people chatter about his project in small committees, sharing their thoughts after the lecture and the round of questions. Jeongguk felt a pat in the back before he saw who it had been, but the quiet laugh he heard from behind him told him he already knew who it was.

“You did great! I’m so proud. Congratulations, Jeongguk-ah” Professor Kim spoke happily as they walked back to their seats.

“Thank you. I feel great, to be honest” he said, laughing lightly and feeling the remnants of the stress feeling his body. He filled his lungs with a deep breath and felt his lungs fill completely for the first time in the whole morning. When he got to his seat, Professor Byun pat his shoulder and also congratulated him.

“You defended your project flawlessly” he said smiling.

“Thank you very much, Professor” the younger bowed. From behind the teacher, he saw a taller figure stand up and turn around to his seat, putting down a notebook filled with notes. Had Taehyung been taking notes during his presentation? Jeongguk met the older’s eyes as he stood up, and his face was serious, but it relaxed as soon as he locked gazes with the other.

“Very well done, Jeongguk-shi” Taehyung said, showing his square smile, and making the other’s stomach turn upside down –the younger would blame it on residual nervousness, though-.

“T-Thank you” ‘ _Did you just fucking stutter?_ ’. “You too, Taehyung-shi, good luck up there” he added, out of common politeness.

Baekhyun sat down after patting Taehyung bum encouragingly, allowing him to pass by and walk towards the end of the seats to get to the stage. Jeongguk still stood at the end of the line of seats, so he had to step aside to let Taehyung pass, and when he did so, the elder finally replied.

“Thank you, Jeongguk-ah” he started, placing his hand lightly on the younger’s waist, “I hope you take care of me too” he finished, walking off with a wink and a way too charming smile, and leaving behind a bewildered Jeongguk, who could do nothing but blink at the retreating set of shoulders –had Taehyung’s shoulders always looked that wide or was it the suit mak- ‘ _Enough, Jeon Jeongguk’_.

He felt a pull of the side of his blazer, and he snapped his head to the side, towards the direction of the pulling, where his professor was looking at him with a small smile and a light rise of one eyebrow.

“You can continue drooling later, Jeongguk-ah. Sit, now” he said, teasing the younger, and making Professor Byun giggle loudly next to him. Jeongguk was going to speak back, but he saw the Design professor give a very exaggerated ‘thumbs up’ to the stage, from where Taehyung was looking at him with a smile, about to step behind the set with the microphone, where the art student had been standing just a minute ago. He sat down, puffing some air and hearing the chuckles of the professors.

‘ _I’m losing respect by the second_ ’ he lied to himself.

Suddenly, Taehyung’s baritone voice filled the auditorium and the raven haired boy’s attention was latched onto the boy on stage completely.

“Good morning, everybody. First of all, thank you so much for listening attentively to our prior lecturer, and thank you for having me. I hope I’m as worthy of your attention” he said, as he bowed his head slowly. “I am Kim Taehyung, and this is my project. ‘ _Light inversion_ ’” he said, as he directed a controller to the end of the room, making the lights dim in some places and brighten up in others, making noise and chatter rouse in the room. “Please take care of me” he spoke softly, making his voice unnoticeably higher, as if echoing the younger’s words.

\-------

The clapping was loud in the room, so much that Jeongguk wondered if a simple College Conference was supposed to make such an impact or be so entertaining. ‘ _I guess all teaching should be this exciting in a good educational environment, though’_ he thought ironically as he clapped loudly. Taehyung had delivered, and he had taken everything in. He prided himself on how much he knew, but Taehyung managed to make him think twice, and he literally _took over_ the room, with how he was moving the lights around to demonstrate his points _in situ_. Jeongguk had never seen something similar. Heck, he never would have even thought to do something like that.

Taehyung walked off the stage with his face illuminated by the brightest smile Jeongguk believed possible –and he was friends with Jung Hoseok and Park Jimin, he had a great standard for what blinding smiles looked like, _thank you_ -. Taehyung hadn’t even reached his seat, and he was already being stopped mid-way by a couple of suited men, shaking hands and exchanging bows.

“Thank you very much, that was truly inspiring. We are now going to have a small break, and we will resume in half an hour with our first Discussion Panel” a man spoke from the stage, making everybody stir on their seats and sit up –no matter how fancy all those people looked in their stuck-up-wanna-impress outfits, no one was professional enough to sit on a college chair for two hours straight and not stand up looking like a penguin with dysfunctional legs-.

“I’ll see you later at the cafeteria guys, I’m gonna try get a hold of Tae” Professor Byun said as he excused himself.

“That really was something else” Jeongguk’s tutor said casually as he stood up and nodded the younger towards the ends of the seats, signalling him to move.

“It was so innovative, I’m quite awestruck to be honest” Jeongguk agreed sincerely.

“I know right? Baekhyun always speaks to me about Taehyung because he truly enjoys working with him. I’ve honestly never seen him so excited about working on a project as he is when he comes home” (Jeongguk tried not to scream as his teacher and _ship_  was practically confirmed to him, but failed slightly and had to cough to cover it) “from his practically daily meetings with Taehyung. I even joke about how he’s gonna come out as some weird ass harassing teacher” he joked. Jeongguk’s eyes opened widely, and the teacher simply laughed obnoxiously at his reaction. "Of course, though, I know he isn’t, and I would be the first one to defend his case. Although maybe our friend Junmyeon from the Law department would be more suitable for the job” he added cackling. “I also joke about how Taehyung may be secretly in love with him, but I guess I can’t think that anymore” he added suggestively, looking at Jeongguk to see if he elicited a reaction for the younger, but he just looked confused at his teacher’s words. It was like the man had completely discarded his filter.

“He’s already getting offers, but don’t worry Jeongguk-ah, I saw many interested faces when you were presenting too” his teacher added, reminding Jeongguk of the importance of the day. He had gotten so stupidly caught up in his reverie with Taehyung that the other boy had been his last thought on stage before starting, not even giving the men and women who had gone there to _potentially hire him_ a glimpse of a thought. He felt a wave of shame take over as he realized that he had not gotten any offers, while Taehyung was probably getting swamped with them that same second.

They walked into the cafeteria, the younger’s mind still caught up on a self-depreciating line of thought, and went for the line to get some coffee.

“Oh!” Jeongguk’s professor gasped all of a sudden, making him look up –gosh had he been staring at the floor all along?- to see him wave at a very tall man at the end of the room. He was sitting up and screaming _‘Jongdae_!’ at them as soon as he saw he had been noticed. There was a smaller man sitting in front of him, and he smiled briefly at them before signalling Jongdae to approach too, but his smile turned into a frown and he moved to face the taller, pulling his t-shirt down and bringing him into the chair so he’d sit down and stop screaming.

The arts professor turned to his student, and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’d tell you that I’m going to be right back, but I know with those two it won’t be possible. Grab a coffee and find Taehyung, you need to find your discussion points with him. Baekhyun will probably help you, unless Chanyeol there” he nodded his head lightly to the end of the room to explain who he was referring to “gets a hold of him too”.

“Jongdae!” Chanyeol screamed again. Said man turned at him and signalled with his and to wait for a second, and Jeongguk followed his eyes to see the smaller one hit his arm –quite strongly-, getting only a wholesome laugh and a fake pain reaction from the other. They looked old enough to be professors, but they surely weren’t acting like professional adults.

 _‘What is a professional adult anyway_ ’

“Anyway, meet me at the entrance five minutes before the break is over, and we’ll have a quick chat, okay?” Jongdae finished, nodding at the younger encouragingly. Despite the fact that he was physically looking up at Jeongguk, the boy felt like a five year old being abandoned by his parents in the park. He nodded and mumbled a ‘ _Sure, will do_ ’ before seeing the other one go.

He sighed heavily and felt his muscles grow with tension once again. His phone buzzed in his pocket, so he took the moment of privacy to check it, as he hadn’t done so for a while.

Smiling at his own joke, he cliked on another chat and replied.

A small window popped at the top of the boy’s phone, showing a newly received message from Yoongi, which was slightly odd; he hardly ever bothered to reply so quickly. He sent the message to Seokjin. Jeongguk struck a thought, now that he was talking to his hyung, Chanyeol’s name resonating in his head.

 

Yoongi stopped replying at the same time Jeongguk reached the coffee counter, and he asked for a cappuccino with a double espresso shot, speaking distractedly as he fumbled with his phone, going back to his chats, and pressing on Jimin’s conversation to see two very cryptic messages.

He began typing a reply but suddenly a loud noise from the back of the room startled him. Chanyeol had stood up suddenly, and he had tipped his chair back, dropping it on the floor and making a ruckus. He had his phone to his ear, and was mumbling loud apologies, bowing to the other men at the table –which now included an amusedly laughing Baekhyun- and excusing himself as he run to –Jeongguk could assume- meet Yoongi. The scene made the arts student chuckle, happy at not being the one at the receiving end of his hyung’s wrath. He was amused by the relationship of the two, and wondered if that group of tutors all tried to befriend their students like that. He went back to his phone and finished writing his reply to Jimin.

 ‘ _Gosh what has he fucked up now_ ’

He waited for the other’s reply –because in this case it was odd for Jimin to take more than a couple of minutes to answer-, but it didn’t come straight away, so he just rolled his eyes and went back to his chats, where he could recall seeing another conversation which needed to be checked. The lady at the bar called for him monotonously, and he looked up to see her handing him his coffee. He took it, thanking her, and turned to walk out of the crowded room, deciding he needed some quiet to think about what he could discuss with Taehyung for their panel.

Once he reached the outside and he felt freed from the pressure of the conference attendees, he took a sip of his coffee, scrunching his nose at the slight over-burnt taste of it, and laid against a wall. He felt the urge to pull at his tie to loosen it, but he restrained himself from getting dishevelled; he wasn’t done yet, and he _wanted_ to get at least one offer. He rolled his eyes at the thought of how stuck up to looks society was, and took another sip of his coffee, swallowing the pull to run his hands through his hair and thinking how he wished etiquette didn’t exist and everyone could simply work in their most comfortable pieces of clothing.

‘ _I’m sure it would increase work efficiency_ ’, he thought, but he sighed at himself. He wasn’t a business major, after all, and didn’t know much about business itself either way, so he was just wasting his own thoughts.

His phone buzzed in his pocket again, and he remembered he hadn’t finished checking his texts. He groaned a little, feeling inclined to simply ignore it for a couple more hours, as he would normally do. ‘ _If you need anything important, you’ll call_ ’, he would always say, and likewise he was thinking this time, but then his phone started buzzing with longer vibrations, signalling that he was, indeed, receiving a call.

The screen showed an unknown number, but the boy swept his finger through the screen before thinking about it, and he answered with furrowed brows.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jeongguk-shi?” the deep voice replied from the devise, taking the younger by surprise. He was taking a breath, ready to ask for the caller’s identity, when they spoke again. “It’s Taehyung. I texted you a while ago, but you didn’t reply and we should get together to talk about our panel discussion. Where are you right now?”

“Mh, I’m just outside” he replied.

“Great, where can I meet you?”

“Just come out of the building by the door next to the cafeteria” he explained, bringing the coffee to his lips and taking another sip.

“Okay, on my way!” the other one said cheerfully.

Jeongguk hung up and wondered where had all the previous tension gone to. Honestly, he didn’t know what to think about Taehyung. He was his friend’s friend, and he was incredibly talented and innovative, as he had just discovered. Other than that, he had just been rude or annoying to the younger, and he had shown zero commitment towards Hoseok’s project. Also he got on his nerves at an amazing speed, even when there was no apparent reason for the bothering.

But now the younger felt quite deflated. He had disappointed himself, in all honesty. He hadn’t gotten one single call, no one had stopped to talk to him; and he was better than that. But mostly, he was better than a pitiful ass who wouldn’t recognise other’s talents and act professionally simply because of his own failures. So he finished his coffee in one last go, and decided that he was going to try and avoid confrontation with the other. He rested his back on the concrete wall, and let his head fall against it softly, closing his eyes and trying to get his mind to think about what he needed to finish for work efficiently. He focused on the sounds around him, paying close attention to the door for when Taehyung walked out of it.

Something poked him on the side suddenly, making him scream and jump away from the tickles. His eyes opened widely and he lost his balance a little, yet in all his shame his face became murderous. The pink on his cheeks betrayed the intention, but it didn’t keep him from trying.

He stared at a bewildered Taehyung, eyes and mouth equally round, an amused yet surprised expression making him look too much like a toddler playing with his favourite toy; his arm was stretched, and the pointy object which had attacked the smaller one’s was found at the end of said arm, Taehyung’s long and slim finger sticking out.

“Dude what the fuck” the younger said drily, his intentions for peace burning out by the heat showing on his face.

“I’m sorry” the other said, retracting his hand and chuckling a little, totally unaffected by the younger’s tone. “I didn’t expect you to react like that” he added, giggling again.

“Do you know what personal space is?” he accused, fixing his jacket (or trying to fix his dignity through the action) and stood up straight.

“To be honest I have heard that sentence so many times I’m starting to believe no one knows what personal space is”. He took a step closer, resting lightly with this side on the wall and punctuating his words by standing to close for comfort to the younger, who stared at him in confusion.

“Wha-?”

“We’re not here to discuss that, though” the other said, all mighty.

The younger was tired of being bossed around, so he took the stance this time. He changed his body weight, pushing it forward so that he towered over the older, taking in advantage that despite being taller, he was resting on the wall and that made the small difference between them flip around.

“Yes. I took a couple of notes while you were speaking. I think there are a couple points in which our works meet; some to join and some to clash. We could discuss those” he announced in a serious tone. Taehyung eyed him cautiously, seemingly weighting his actions.

“So what’s your ideal course of action? Join and clash? Or clash and join? I personally like a bit of both”. Taehyung was wording it strangely and Jeongguk was trying his hardest not to question him.

“I think we should keep it balanced. If we tackle everything we agree on and then everything we disagree on it’s just going to be boring”.

“I suggest we do an issue order, then.” The older waited, and continued once the other gave him a nod in response. “If we order the discussion through schemes and issues we can make it seem more like we’re advancing than simply discussing singled-out alienated points.”

“Sounds right.” He pulled out his phone and opened his notes, where he had written a couple of ideas during the conference, and stood a bit closer to Taehyung so he could show him. He pointed at different words as he explained his ideas. “I think if we follow this order, it would be the tidiest.” He gave time for the other to read his notes, his eyes scanning down the screen and his eyelashes –his very long eyelashes, ‘ _what the heck Jeon Jeongguk this is not the time to be Gay_ ’- moving as he read.

“See but I think that if we take these two” he tapped on the screen, selecting two words, and shifted his body to bring his other hand up behind the phone, holding it in place and covering the whole of Jeongguk’s hand behind it, “and we moved it here” he said, pasting them a couple of words below. He moved both hands away, but the younger’s hand still felt the warmth of the other’s. “Then both points still relate, but the transition to the later ones is much neater” he finished and shifted his body weight back again. Jeongguk eyed the list, and thought about it a couple times.

“Yeah, it makes sense to me” he admitted.

“Good! We’re already starting on agreements. I have a feeling this is going to be much easier than expected”.

The younger rolled his eyes, and looked away from Taehyung.

“Shall we rundown how we’re going to do it? We still have plenty of time” he suggested.

“Okay, I think you should just agree with me on everything I say. Saves up the time of coming up with arguments” Teahyung said nodding.

“You’re an ass”.

“I am. A great one in fact. Thank you” he replied smugly.

“I’m going to punch you.” Jeongguk said, but instead decided to take a big breath and use all of his anger and frustration as will power for work– as well as trying very hard to use the same will power to restrain him from checking out Taehyung’s ass-. ‘ _Just for science, though. Just to have the facts to be able to disagree with him_.’ “First topic. Portraits. Go.”

\--------

“Indeed, Jeongguk-shi. Use of lighting is not strictly limited to emphasizing, but also as cover for other things.”

“And sometimes that which lays in the shadows, is the key to the painting. Or to how the piece is sculptured, or how a room is lit.”

“Not all which is important shines.”

“And something must never be rendered irrelevant simply for being in the shadows”.

They concluded, together, for the audience.

\----------

Jeongguk walked off stage, Taehyung close behind him. There were still talks left for the day, he still had to listen and pay attention for many other hours, but he felt freed. He felt freed and accomplished. The round of question had been brief and concise, the debate had arouse interest but they had been able to cover most things within the two of them. Jeongguk had realized at more than one point that he was sitting forward, actually excited and his interest in debating peeking and showing through his body language. Taehyung’s eye sparkle seemed to shine with the same feelings.

He was tapped on the shoulder, and he turned to see a man, slightly taller than him, smiling down. He introduced himself, and the art student tried to not stutter when he spoke his.

And then came another man. And a woman. And a couple others during the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all!! I know it's been ages I'm so sorry > < Uni got possessive. I have bought you a long two chaptered update to compensate though! I hope I can make it up to you~~ enjoy :3


	11. Monday II: Development (JK)

By the end of the event, he had introduced himself and discussed his work many times that day. He had thanked and bowed more times than he could remember. But mostly, he had been praised and offered future opportunities. And he felt accomplished. He felt proud. He felt like he had managed to show his worth, and he wanted to thank professor Kim a million times (he had already done so about a thousand times, the last one being a shouted ‘ _Thank you, Jongdae-hyung_ ’ across a corridor before he left the building at full speed, knowing the reduction of formalities would struck a chord in his tutor).

Now, he was getting closer to his flat, already feeling lighter, and he was thinking about everything that had happened that day. Within other thoughts (which he wasn’t paying so much attention to because he’d just had enough _knowledge and wisdom_ for the day), he realized he had spent a great part of his day with Taehyung. Not as much in the afternoon as in the morning, but he had. And he still couldn’t discern why he disliked the dude so much; mostly when he was constantly confused about his body going all _gay and flustered_ by the other’s presence. But he still didn’t like him. He didn’t like people who couldn’t keep a promise. He was fully aware that he was just as bad at committing to things, so that much he could understand. But the showcase –yes now that his presentation was over he could start stressing about that again-; the preparations and the dance, it was too important for Hoseok, and Taehyung was disregarding all of that by skipping all of the dance practises. So yes, he could spend time with the guy. Yes, he could have human interaction and he could be professional with him. But he didn’t like him.

“Hyung?” he asked as he opened the door to his apartment. By that time Yoongi was expected to be in the flat. Their chat while he was at the cafeteria and Chanyeol’s escape told him his hyung had had a tutor meeting today, which meant he wouldn’t be going to the studio –Jeongguk had somehow learnt Yoongi’s routines after so many years together-, and it was too early for him to be in bed –objectively, yet a discussable point by Min Yoong’s standards-. He hadn’t texted Jeongguk that he had left the house, either, so it was most likely that he was home and awake. But he wasn’t answering, so he tried again “Yoongi-hyung?”

“Kitchen” he heard finally as he took his shoes off. “How did it go?” Yoongi shouted before Jeongguk even walked towards the room.

“Real good, hyung. I’m the best. How could you ever doubt me” the younger joked as he walked to pour himself some water, loosening his tie now that he was home. The urge to rip his clothes off was starting to be overwhelming.

“You’re not having any dinner with that attitude.” Yoongi shoved the younger to the side to open a cupboard. “Any offers?” The rapper was tidying up and he wasn’t making eye contact with the younger, but Jeongguk knew him enough to read past that as if he didn’t care. They worked like that, and both were good at reading within each other’s lines. They knew they cared without having to say it.

He rested his body against the counter, and run his hands through his hair, massaging his scalp. “Hyung please no, I _need_ food” the younger whined, deciding not to question whether his hyung was offering to make dinner that night. A rare occurring, but Yoongi was actually a great cook and he appreciated it greatly. Jeongguk wasn’t bad himself, but food made by others always tastes best. “And yeah. A couple. Like three direct offers, four team projects and another two collaboration suggestions. Not like I was counting, though.” He was.

“Good. I’ll serve you nice rice grains then. Because you deserve each and every single one of them. And you weren’t counting, but I will.”

“Why not nine spoonfuls?” Jeongguk asked, trying not to pout, but failing.

“My mind tends to go into more torturous ways”.

“I’m going to sue you for malnutrition” he bounced off the counter, and moved to his bedroom.

“Nobody is going to believe that with that body of yours” Yoongi spoke loudly so he would be heard despite the distance.

Jeongguk laughed and stepped in his room, starting to unbutton his shirt and moving to the closet for a change of clothes. In a matter of seconds, he was wearing baggy tracksuit bottoms and a loose t-shirt, and he could feel his energy level reset. He took his discarded clothes and put them aside, thinking that he’d put them with the dirty clothes later. Now, he needed to relax, so he sat down on his bed and grabbed his laptop and a pair of headphones, ready for some anime action.

A couple episodes later, Jeongguk’s door opened slowly. He ripped his eyes from the computer screen, stopping the episode to ensure he wouldn’t miss a thing. It was so intense and he was so engrossed in it he almost asked Yoongi what he wanted in broken Japanese.

“Guk-ah, do you have a moment?” Yoongi asked without stepping in the room. The boy took off his muted earphones, letting the other know he was listening. “Hoseok’s over and we’re messing around with some harmonies. Namjoon is on his way also.”

Jeongguk furrowed his brows and looked at the mint haired male, waiting. When he didn’t say anything, he asked. “And? Do you need me to bring you cookies and milk or something?” he joked, as he didn’t really understand why Yoongi was telling him. Normally he would have just walked out of his room and found the other two there and that would have been it. They had no rule over who or when to bring home, as they trusted and knew each other enough not to need one.

“Did someone say cookies?” Hoseok spoke from behind Yoongi, starting him. “Because I’m totally up for it” he said smiling. “Yaah, Guk-ah! How are you?” Hoseok stepped around the elder male and barged into the room, sitting on the bed next to Jeongguk and speaking animatedly. Jeongguk’s laptop bounced on his lap with the intensity of the bed’s moving and he felt something akin to fear. “Yoongi told me your presentation went well! I’m so happy for you!” he put his hand up, and Jeongguk –after putting his laptop aside- high fived it strongly, happy about the praise and smiling at the memory. He had spent so long preparing for it; it had only been this morning but he felt as if a lifetime had gone by.

“Yeah man, I am not the Golden Maknae just for the title” he joked, puffing out his chest proudly and smiling a big toothy smile.

“And Taehyung’s also went well. What a proud hyung you make me” he sang, as he patted Jeongguk’s hair.

“Yeah, it was great” Jeongguk added with a small smile, as he didn’t feel undermined by the elder now that he had gotten his fair share of offers. He felt his voice go weaker as he remembered he hadn’t actually congratulated the other in his great work. He’d forgotten. With the emotion of it all and the high of the improvised interviews and offers, he hadn’t gotten around to it. Not only his presentation, but the debate had been team-work and ‘ _Oh My God he probably thinks I’m an asshole_ ’ he thought as he stared at his socks. He hadn’t realized, but Hoseok’s patting and his self-shame had made him look down, so his head snapped up when the dancer spoke again. “Okay, so, are we gonna get working or what?” He got up from the bed and walked to the door, turning to wait for the younger.

“Huh?” Jeongguk made a small noise of question.

“Ah, Hobi, go to my room. We’ll be there in a sec” Yoongi said as he pushed Hoseok aside and looked at him pointedly, speaking with his eyes. Jeongguk rose and eyebrow questioned his hyung’s words.

“ _We_?”

“What, is being in our presence _that painful_?” Yoongi approached the younger, taking the space Hoseok had just left.

“Sometim-” Jeongguk is interrupted by a very strong punch in the arm, coming from a very weak looking Min Yoongi “auch, okay, okay I was joking. Gee your punch game is too strong and I always forget ‘cause you’re such a twig” he complained rubbing his arm where he had gotten punched, but he got another hit, slightly higher this time. “Fuck- what?!”

“I’m beginning to think you’ve got short-term memory loss” the older mocked with a laugh, ending with a cough and stretching the back of his neck. “So, yeah. Listen, I need you to record some vocals for the demo for Hobi’s showcase.” He spoke at once, as if avoiding giving himself room to falter. His right hand flew to play with the back of his ear, and Jeongguk had to hold his laugh at the nervous mannerisms his flatmate was showing. “I’ve already spoken to Namjoon about it and we all agree that it’s missing something in the harmonies, and we’ve tried covering it with instrumentals but it just won’t make the cut-, and trust me, we can make it work but it just isn’t _perfect_ and really we just all want this to be perfect because Jung Hoseok deserves nothing but-”

“Ah. Ah, alright” Jeongguk cut Yoongi off, sensing that he needed to make the other stop his rambling. Yoongi stared at him, questioning with his eyes with no words coming out from his tightly pressed lips. Jeongguk nodded once, as if to support his previous agreement, and Yoongi’s eyes thinned in suspicion.

“Listen, I don’t mean to put you in a tight spot b-” Yoongi was now placing his hands in front of himself, palms open and facing upwards, his body speaking for him.

“Hyung, it’s okay. I get it, I’ll do it. I don’t mind. I’m loving your rant but honestly; it’s fine. As you said, it’s all for Hoseok-hyung.” He smiled and stood up, taking a deep breath and stopping at the door.

“Gimme a run through, though. Please.” He turned his smile into the softest one he could muster, showing his teeth in a way that he knew made him look like a tinny bunny who just wanted to play.

“Of course” Yoongi spoke from the younger’s bed, smiling back. He got to his feet and walked after the younger, standing by the door before placing a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Guk-ah.”

“No worries. One’s gotta grow up. At least one of us has to.” He snickered, but the mint haired boy ignored his insult. “Plus we do this all the time, only now Hobi-hyung will be there too.” He had always felt comfortable with the dancer, and after last week and all the dance practices, he believed he knew him much better than ever, so he tried to control himself. He was just going to sing a little bit, for his hyungs; for their projects, because it was important for them.

That was it. He’d be fine.

“Yeah, you’ll be fine” Yoongi spoke, as if reading his mind, and smiled softly again. Jeongguk moved to make room for him to pass, and they made way to the elder’s room. “We have the general melody, so what I want is for you to record some harmonies first, so we can check the best timing and then adapt some of the lyrics”. By the time he had finished talking, he was taking his place on his desk chair and Hoseok was smiling at Jeongguk from his spot on Yoongi’s bed. Yoongi didn’t really like sharing his personal space, and there was a chair next to Yoongi’s, but Jung Hoseok simply managed to get away with things other people wouldn’t be alive to tell.

“You already have the lyrics?” Lyrics were the part with which Yoongi struggled the most, and Jeongguk knew that. Not that he had a hard time writing them or getting inspired, in fact his head was always overflowing with lines and beats, but he was such a perfectionist and he wanted to tell his story _just the right way,_ he normally took a while to finish the lyrics because he just kept discarding note after note. If trees were to ever come to life Min Yoongi would be the first to go.

“Yeah, well, Namjoon-ah got hit by a truck of inspiration.”

“A truck? Sounds a bit heavy” Jeongguk sat next to Hoseok, who moved his legs slightly to give him more space.

“He wrote so much, there’s no other way to put it.”

“Also Joon-ah could get hit by an actual truck and it would be the truck what would end most harmed” Hoseok added with a laugh.

Jeongguk’s eyes widened at the image. He had seen Namjoon; he was tall, he had a strong body build, but he definitely didn’t look like someone who could come out of getting hit by a truck unscarred. But then again neither did the skinny dude in that vampire movie who stopped one with his bare hands.

Jeongguk’s thoughts were taking him to a strange place where he was wondering the real chances of Namjoon being some sort of super-human, with how his hyungs were talking about him, but his thoughts got interrupted by Hoseok answering his phone loudly.

“Yo!” he greeted, “Oh, hi Joon-ah” he waited. “Okay man, yeah, coming”. He hung up, and announced that Namjoon was at the door and he was going to get him. He exited the room and Yoongi turned to speak to him.

“You good?” he said simply. His eyes showed worry, but nothing else about his behaviour let to think there was anything wrong.

“Yeah. Yeah we good. I’m in a good mood, so. Yeah” his voice was stable, and he took it as a good sign that he was actually okay with this.

He truly couldn’t remember the last time he allowed himself to sing in front of someone who wasn’t his hyung or his reflection in the mirror. He had been so scared. Hell, he still was. But he knew he had to grow out of it. And today was a good day, so he might as well go all out. It was just the four of them; two males who he trusted and one new one whom with he didn’t really know where he stood. But it was just them; he could do it. Just three people. Just his hyung, and his friend, and-

“Guk-ah” Yoongi called for him curly, cutting him off his reverie. Said male relaxed his muscles, and felt his shoulders drop heavily. He had become tense just thinking about the situation, and Yoongi had said his name to snap him out of it.

Namjoon and Hoseok entered the room then, the former greeting the other two as he stepped in and took the seat next to Yoongi. Jeongguk greeted him casually too, and laid back on the bed, telling himself to get it together and relax. The other males were talking between themselves, and the younger took the moment for himself. He had won over all the people in the congress that morning. He could win over these two with no problem. Only his voice, instead of his ideas. He could do it. ‘ _Calm down_ ’ he told himself, pressing his eyelids together as if forcing the thought to engrave in his head.

“Wow, Joon-ah. God, Gukie get over here” Hoseok called excitedly, and the younger sat up, curious. Hoseok was hunched over the other two, reading from a bunch of notes Namjoon had spread on the table. “I can’t wait to hear these!” Hoseok turned to Jeongguk, and waved for him to come over, but his excitement had him taking a paper from the table instead and walking to Jeongguk, meeting him halfway. “Look at these! I can practically hear the beat just reading them” he praised happily.

“C’mon Hoba, you’re too much” Namjoon whined, his friend’s compliments getting to him.

Yoongi stood up to follow Hoseok to the bed, and held the other’s arm from waving around so Jeongguk could read the lines. Now, the younger had no experience in composing himself, but he had spent enough time watching Yoongi do it to be able to understand what the dancer had meant when he said he could practically hear the rhythm in the writing.

“You wouldn’t need to sing all of it, but we would need a voice track for…” Yoongi turned to look at Namjoon, questioning.

“The first bit for sure, and the end, so it guides the rest. But backing vocals in the mid part would actually be great to have. You know how it is, and it’s better to work with all the materials you might need even if you end up not using them” explained Namjoon in a serious tone.

“Wow, they’re really good Namjoon-shi.” Jeongguk took the notes from the other’s hands, and read them over again. “I feel like they work perfectly… Hey, Hoseok-hyung, what part of the dance would these be for?”

“This bit” he said, pointing at some scribbles on top on the page, “would be for the opening moves. And then this bit” his finger went to the bottom of the page “would be for the closing, which I’m still working on, because if we have vocals… I might wanna work with that beat instead”.

“And the middle part?” asked Yoongi.

“Well ‘cause that might still change I’m keeping it as it is, so far. Jimin-ah and I are still cleaning that bit but we’re almost done with it. You already know most of the steps, as well” Hoseok turned to speak to Jeongguk.

“I do?”

“Well, not in the sequence or order that we’ve arranged them into, no, but we’ve already practised them, yeah.” He ended with a smile.

“Ah, oh. Wow”.

“Well then, do you think we could start? Jeongguk-shi, do you know how to do warm up exercises?”

“Yeah, we’ve got that covered” answered the mint haired rapper with a smug smile before his flatmate would say so himself.

“Okay then, let me just…”

And with that, the three of them went back to the computer, and meddled with it, arguing shortly and getting to quick understandings. Seeing them work together like that, Jeongguk was able to understand how they had been able to form such a strong bond and trust each other so much so easily when they had met. They didn’t need many words to be understood by the others, but they listened attentively to each one of them, and discussed the wrong and praised the right. They looked like a great team.

Once they were done, they started to set up the mic and connecting all the devices. This made Jeongguk feel more included, as he knew what to do just as well as the others –if not better, as it was his house and his hyung’s equipment who he had set up too many times to count-, and he started to feel more at ease, the conversation easily flowing between them.

“By the way, Jeongguk-shi, Taehyung-ah told me you guys did a panel together this morning?” Namjoon asked when he was holding the mic stand for the younger to fix to his height.

“Yeah, actually. We did” he smiled proudly, but he then remembered he hadn’t congratulated the other on his work, and felt like a complete ass again. It’s not like he _had_ to say anything, but he felt highly inconsiderate for not having done so. And it was worse because Taehyung had congratulated him. He felt like he was losing in the game of “ _being fake nice to each other_ ”, even if it was all pretend.

“That’s nice. I’m glad it went well for both of you. Taehyung-ah was going to lose all his hair because of that presentation.”

“Gosh, Gukkie was the same. I was afraid he was going to end up setting the place on fire just to have a plausible excuse not to go” Yoongi joked from the computer.

“That’s not true. I was brave. Also setting things on fire is more your style, hyung”.

“I bow to that” added Hoseok. “Jeongguk would just punch the walls down or something”.

“I feel like there’s a couple stories I’m missing there” added Namjoon.

“There might be more than one” answered Yoongi, “but for legal reasons, none of them are real” Yoongi’s voice and face turned blank and mysterious, getting all the attention in the room, until he broke into a smile, cracking a dry laugh. “Yah, just finish setting that. The program’s ready”.

“Yeah, we better listen to him. I don’t want to be burnt alive” Namjoon whispered, making Jeongguk snort.

“Okay, all set!”

\-------------------------

Jeongguk felt tired. But also strangely pumped up. He had done it. He had proven himself twice that day, and there were so many emotions inside him that he just felt a bit overwhelmed by all of them.

After a fifteen minute warm up –which he had excused to his room to do, because if his voice cracked during warm ups it was to be expected but he still had some pride to hold onto-, he had listened carefully to his hyungs’ guides, and he had followed Namjoon’s instructions on how to sing the parts. It had been fairly easy to do as he had asked, because Namjoon would first try to do the note –which would sound on point yet his face was one that would put comedians to shame, making the younger laugh and loosen up-, and then he would ask Jeongguk to change the tone or make his voice softer, changing the projection and so with great instructions and accuracy.

The younger was taking off the headphones once they had signalled him to do so, with a thumbs up and a few encouraging pats in the back, accompanied by Hoseok’s shrieks of surprise, Yoongi’s usuals “good job”, and Namjoon’s full smile. He didn’t say anything, but he just looked full of pride about the result, so the younger felt complimented just by how pleased he seemed. They were his lyrics after all.

“Hey, Namjoon-shi, how come you were able to guide me so well? With the singing, I mean. It took me years to decipher Yoongi-hyung’s instructions”.

“Oh, well. I mean, thank you” he said, covering his face as he let out a short and high pitched laugh. “Well I’ve helped other vocalists before. With uni assignments and all, so…”

“My directions are flawless, you’re just shortwitted”.

“I’m shortwitted but you’re just short”

“Do you wanna go?”

“Anyway!” Hoseok interrupted the flatmates, “He’s helped Seokjin-hyung” added Hoseok, looking at Yoongi and winking at the mention of the elder.

“Seokjin-hyung? As in Kim Seokjin hyung?” asked Jeongguk.

“Oh, you know him?” Namjoon inquired.

“Yeah, we work together” the younger replied.

“Woa this really is a game of who-knows-who. Feels good to see I’m not the only one playing though” Yoongi added. “I didn’t know you knew Seokjin-hyung, Jooh-ah”.

“Yeah, yeah, he _knows_ him” Hoseok retorted with a playful voice.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for a while” answered Namjoon lightly.

“Okay nice chat. Everything’s tidied so now get out of my house” Yoongi flapped his hands towards the door, still sat on his computer chair.

“Always so welcoming, hyung” said Hoseok laughing.

“I mean I am telling you to leave, so the welcoming bit is definitely over. I’ll get back to you guys when I’ve cleared the tracks and it’s all in place” he answered not looking over.

“So, in like, two hours?” Jeongguk knew it took longer than that, so he laughed at the joke, but his hyung kept looking at the screen, focused. Over productive Min Yoongi was on.

“Maybe, Joon-ah. In longer if you keep distracting me. Shush shush”. He said as the other three walked to outside of the room and to the flat’s door.

“Well, thank you for giving my lyrics a soul” Namjoon said to Jeongguk once they were at the door.

“No problem” the younger responded, not sure of what to say.

“Awe, look at our cute dongsaengs” Hoseok said all of a sudden, looking at his phone. The other two stared back at him in confusion, and he just showed them a picture Jimin had just texted him.

“Yeah, Taehyung mentioned he’d be practising with Jimin.” Namjoon commented to the picture.

“You know who he’s with 24/7. You’ve really adopted him as your own, Joon-ah.”

“I’ve not! He just likes sharing with me his daily duties… Well okay maybe a little” he admitted laughing.

“But we didn’t have dance practice today, did we, hyung?” Jeongguk asked, confused and still looking at the sweaty males on the screen. “I mean, you’re here.”

“No, but they’ve been practising. His professor…” -‘ _Baekhyun_ ” filled up Namjoon for him- “, yeah, they met up so much for his project presentation that he couldn’t make it to our practices, and he would just practise with Jimin-ah when they could, but now he insisted he wanted to have an intense practice today, to make up for it. For the lost time, he said”. Hoseok pretended to wipe a tear, and added with an unsteady voice. “He’s such a wonderful soul. So pure”, and he sniffed exaggeratedly.

_‘Oh. Oh, okay.’_

Hoseok made a high pitched sound and he made a cute face, taking a selca with an equally cheesy finger heart and sending it to Jimin as a reply, typing a long ‘ _fightiiiiiiiiing~_ ’.

“You’re so corny” Namjoon laughed at Hoseok.

“I’m the light in all your lives, you can say whatever you want” Hoseok replied, putting his phone in his pocket. “’Kay then! Great work today guys, we’ll leave you to it then.” Hoseok said, smiling and grabbing the door handle.

“Yeah, see you soon. Thanks again.” Namjoon said as goodbye.

“Bye Hyung!!!!” Hoseok shouted, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.

“See ya” Jeongguk said as he closed the door after them.

Jeongguk had felt like an asshole, but now he had just found out that he, plainly, _was_ an asshole. He had crossed Taehyung, judging him as something he wasn’t, just because… well. There wasn’t a reason, really. He had just decided to make one. Because no, he wasn’t going to dance practice. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t practising. Wow he really deserved the top medal for being an absolute imbecile.

He was still standing by the door, thinking in circles about whether he had always been this much of a dick without a real reason to be so. He felt bad regarding Taehyung one more time that day, and he didn’t know what to make of it.

So he went back to his room, put his earphones back in, and played pause, covering his feelings with the ones the anime characters were going to throw at him.

\--------------

Jeongguk left himself fall on the bed, face first, the exhaustion of the day catching up to him. He was eternally grateful for Yoongi for having made him dinner –all that nine grains of rice that turned into three full servings of bibimbap-, because he wouldn’t have done it himself, and he probably would have just ordered a pizza. Which would have been okay, but his body was thankful it had been nice homemade bibimbap instead. He had just brushed his teeth, and all he wanted to do was crawl inside the blankets, but his body wasn’t responding.

After some struggle he managed to get half of his body under the covers, and he called it enough. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling down his Twitter timeline. The usual tweets greeted him, and he simply let sleep take over him as he browsed through very various memes. He came across a gif of Yugyeom and BamBam, and he opened, to his instant regret.

After some more scrolling, he was about to call it a night when certain tweet caught his eye. Curiosity killed the cat, but Jeongguk had always been more of a dog-person, so he opened the tweet to which Jimin was replying.

His stomach twisted at the sight, but the dread he felt for himself drowned any other feeling. He swallowed his pride, and decided to amend himself a little. Closing the app –after re-opening the picture to take a last look at it- he opened the messaging app, and pressed on the morning conversation. He hesitated, not knowing what to write, so he made time by saving the contact. The messages the elder had sent that morning were still there, and he stared at them, trying to adjust his words to the level of familiarity the other one had used. But Taehyung was older so he couldn’t really do that and- ‘ _Stop_ ’. He deleted the messages to stop obsessing, and told himself to just be… natural.

 

Breathing out a deep sigh, he put his phone aside on his bed-side table, plugging it in the charger, and closed his eyes, letting only feelings of content and pride wash over him as he put an end to a very challenging day. No bad feelings remained as part of today. He ended it on a good note, and he was going to treasure that with his dreams.

His phone buzzes a bit later, the reply to his message waiting to be seen, but the raven haired male is already deep in slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this on monday, but the news got me bad and I couldn't find myself to. I want to give my support to all the affected by the tragic events and I want to tell you that you're all doing good. Let's keep going together, yes? I hope this helps even if only a little.
> 
> 종현아, 수고했어요.
> 
> PD: sorry for the cheesiness, this was important and I really like nachos


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